


Always an adventure

by ShadeDuelist



Series: Doctor Who Adventureverse: Three Boys, One Girl, and Their Babysitter [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, F/M, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 16:05:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7321723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeDuelist/pseuds/ShadeDuelist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(I've had this story for such a long time, decided it was about time to post it...<br/>Based on this: http://widdlez.tumblr.com/post/80400204400 - really the cutest thing ever...  And I built from it and added little Alex to the mayhem :D)</p><p>Rose Tyler's favorite job-between-jobs is minding miss Idris' three boys.  All of them charming in their own right, they nevertheless have their own ways to get themselves, each other, and her in trouble every time she goes over there - and this night is no exception.  Awkward questions, sibling rivalry, puppy love, timey-wimey spacey-wacey exploration and 'kissy-kissy' are just a few of the things that happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always an adventure

Of all the jobs Rose had had over the years since she started her little babysitting business, Idris’s kids were by far her favourites. Idris was past fifty now, and most of her children had left the house – all except for her three youngest. They were adorable, though they seemed to have a penchant for mischief that was hard to find in any of her other babysitting jobs, which was probably why she loved them so much. Come to think of it, she mused, Idris herself had a little bit of that mischief in her as well, that little twinkle in her eye as she went off on another dance lesson or painting class, or a date. Maybe that was the most important reason why she loved the three young boys, she mused once again, because the four of them had in common that they didn’t have their father with them anymore. Granted, Rose’s dad had died in a car accident when she was only one year old, too young to even remember him, but her mum at least had pictures of him smiling and waving at the camera. She didn’t think Idris had even that of the man that had fathered her three youngest.

Shaking her head as she walked on, she finally arrived at the beautiful, albeit large, house that said ‘MME. IDRIS’ on a plaque next to the front door. She knocked on the stained glass of the door and instantly was greeted by her employer herself.

“G’day, miss Idris-“

“How many times, Rose, darling, must I ask you to call me ‘Idris’? Whenever someone calls me ‘miss’, it makes me feel older than I pretend to be! …Okay, they shouldn’t be a bother tonight – after last week’s fiasco, I’ve locked away all the glue-“

“It wasn’t a problem.”, Rose admitted, though the woman just continued as if she hadn’t spoken at all.

“And I told Chris that he’ll have his allowance cut _again_ if he doesn’t act his age when I’m not in the house – Lord only knows how-“

“Really, miss Idris…”, Rose interrupted her, putting a hand on her arm to startle her out of her train of thoughts, smiling broadly when the woman gave her a somewhat confused look, “…it wasn’t a problem. All they did was spill glue over my top, an’ it was an old top anyway, so no harm done…”

“Still, it was a very _nice_ top – and I’m still cutting Chris’ allowance if he doesn’t keep himself in check again, either he’s acting up out of early teenage hormones or he’s acting up due to wanting to feel like a child again, the paediatrician said he might be a little envious of Matty-“

“Yeah, well, he’s not crawlin’ up in my lap and getting stories read to ‘im, if that’s what he’s after, he’s too big and heavy for that. …Really, it’s fine, I can handle Chris. And David, and little Matty.” The older woman gave a slight snort of laughter that sounded a little mocking, but she didn’t argue the point further, and after giving Rose a few last-minute instructions – she always repeated who to call in case of emergency, even though Rose knew it by heart by now – she sauntered off, carrying her large brown purse which told Rose it was another date. However, uncharacteristically, she entered the house again after about four seconds.

“Rose? I just remembered, we’re having a bit of a problem… one of the neighbours, misses Williams, asked if it was okay if she’d bring her little girl over for the evening and possibly the night, they have a friend’s wedding to attend and they’re new in the neighbourhood – I’m afraid I said yes, forgetting my own agenda… so we’re having a house guest tonight. Would it be okay… I mean, you’ll get paid double, of course-“

“No problem, just… won’t your neighbours complain if it’s not _you_ that’s minding their daughter? And, uh, how old _is_ their daughter?”

“Oh, she’s five, shouldn’t be quite the handful that Matty or David are, and misses Williams insists that she’s a sweet girl that’s perfectly well-behaved. She can sleep in Matty’s room, I’ve put a mattress on the floor next to Matty’s toy chest, no doubt he’ll have strewn his toys all over it already… if she can’t lay on the mattress because it’s covered in dinosaur plushies or his dress-up clothes, tell him to tidy up. …Okay, then I’ll leave it all to you. Goodnight, Rose!”

“G’night!, Rose answered, smiling and shaking her head even when the front door had slammed and no sound of returning footsteps could be heard. She could hear the faint sounds of boys arguing coming from the living room, so she mentally braced herself while she walked over to her three charges, considering each of them.

Chris, which was short for Christopher, was ten years old, and though he always insisted that, being almost old enough for comprehensive school, he was too old for a babysitter, that had never stopped him from finding his way into the living room and into the little games his two brothers played when she was around. He was very eloquent for a ten-year-old, too, able to talk his way out of trouble with all the natural ease in the world. Funnily enough, his way with words had never worked on his mother and, being the eldest son left in the house, he was usually the one to take the fall if their games turned rough, something that annoyed him to no end whenever he got blamed for light pranks or harmless shenanigans. Whenever there was anyone hurt, or when either of his brothers had done something bad without knowing what he’d done, however, Chris was quick and very insistent on taking the blame and getting punished instead of the others.

David was only two years younger than his brother – at eight, he had a firm grasp of science and numbers, and that gave him an unquenchable thirst for knowing how things worked, especially mechanical things. He was a sweetheart, absent-minded most of the time and enchantingly bright when his mind was not busy dissecting his toys or the television set, but had a penchant for taking things apart. On the first night she’d had to babysit the three boys, he’d managed to not only take Idris’ hairdryer and a watch apart without being able to fix them again, but he’d also made a mess in the kitchen when he needed a screwdriver, and Rose had learned very quickly to keep any electronic devices and kitchen ware high and far from his reach when he was out of her sight. However, David seemed to have learnt from his constant experience in getting berated for unscrewing the bolts on pots and pans, and he seemed to take the time to memorize how he took something apart so he’d at least be able to reassemble the object.

Little Matty, finally, was four, and a wonder all on his own. He didn’t yet have the brightness of his two older brothers but he displayed signs of having both their talents and twice their innate charm. His bright eyes and broad smile would excuse any kind of awkward behavior or question – and there were a lot of that. For starters, he seemed to have an uncanny penchant for finding a new hat to wear every time she saw him; also, he seemed like any other perfectly sweet, shy and quiet little four year old, but despite his somewhat clingy demeanour he was always getting into trouble and had a mischievous side hidden behind that adorable little face. He was in the questioning stage, asking about anything and everything he could think of – and usually, he preferred to ask the most awkward questions first. Once, when she’d been a bit bored with the three off to bed and she’d called her boyfriend over to keep her company – which, of course, hadn’t been a good idea to start with – Matt had come waddling down the stairs very quietly and caught her and Mickey having a nice snog on the sofa, which, of course, had led him to ask what they’d been doing and why the both of them hadn’t had any shirts on. She still blushed whenever she thought about that night, she thought Idris would never ask her to babysit again after all the explaining she’d had to do…

Yet, fortunately, the woman had only laughed and had clearly given her youngest an explanation that held up, because he hadn’t asked about the shirtlessness and the ‘kissy-kissy’ anymore, though he suddenly wouldn’t stand even the lightest insinuation of a kiss anymore, equating all of them with what had happened. Rose had tried to give him a light peck on the cheek once after the incident, but he’d wriggled away saying he was too young for getting kissed.

Pushing the thoughts away, Rose found herself standing in the doorway leading to the living room again, watching the three boys as they were eating their ice creams in front of the television, which was showing a program on dinosaurs. Matt was staring at the screen, evidently transfixed enough to not notice his ice cream leaking onto his blue, apple-patterned T-shirt, and David was tinkering with something she desperately hoped was not his mother’s phone because Idris might just have a fit. Chris wasn’t in the room, but she could hear a deep sigh come from the study, which was on the opposite side of the hallway, showing he was either studying or bravely trying to study.

“…So, how’s my two favourite little men?”, Rose said as she walked into the living room, startling Matty and David and causing a big smile to erupt on their faces.

“Aaah, it’s Rooooose!!”, David cheered, scrambling up from the ground, his project-of-the-moment laying forgotten for a second; however, Matty was faster to launch himself at her.

“Rose, Rose, ’m all sticky! New shirt, new shirt, new shirt!”, he muttered when she leaned down to pick him up, causing her to smile and nod.

“The dinosaurs were int’resting then, eh? Made you forget all about your ice cream, didn’t they?”

“Dinosaurs are cool!”, Matt replied with all the conviction only four-year-old boys could exhibit when talking about the long-extinct reptiles, and that was enough to make Rose smile broadly at him.

“Okay, we’ll get your shirt changed. David, is Chris studying?”

“Maths test tomorrow, I offered to help but Chris is being a prat an’ he won’t let me look at it.”, the middle of the three boys replied, causing Rose to sigh and run a hand through his unruly mop of hair.

“Chris’ maths are more advanced than yours, he’s preparing for comprehensive school now-“

“I can do comprehensive school maths already, my teacher said, so I could help Chris if he wasn’t such an idiot!”, the young boy instantly defended himself, causing Rose to laugh lightly.

“Now come on, Davey, that’s no way to talk about your older brother… maybe _that_ ’s why Chris won’t let you help him, hm? …Let him study in peace – he’s smart, he can do it on his own, and I’m sure that he’ll ask you for help if he gets stuck.” She turned again to Matt, who was now sitting in her arms, his shirt pulled up and exposing his white singlet – and a thoroughly pale shoulder – in order to not get chocolate and vanilla ice stains on Rose’s top. “C’mon now, mister Dinosaur Hunter, let’s get you up to your room for a change of clothes before my arms fall off!” The youth squeezed her arms briefly and then, as if having made sure they were still attached properly, nodded sagely. She carried him up the first flight of stairs and then up the second – all three of the boys had their bedrooms on the upper floor of the house, with Idris’ room on the middle floor right along the stairwell so she’d hear instantly if any one of them was up out of bed at night – and then headed straight for the door that bore stickers of dinosaurs and ghosts. Matt’s room was pleasantly messy – plushies, toy swords and the contents of a small chest of dress-up items lay strewn across the floor like a minefield of childhood. “…Maybe we should clean up here first-“, Rose said, knowing Idris would be grateful if she could manage to get the boy to tidy up after himself for once, but Matt seemingly was on a mission: dashing to his wardrobe, he pulled out a neat-looking shirt, complete with a red ribbon that Rose could only suppose was a bow tie.

“Rose, this, this one, it’s _cool_!”, he said brightly, looking at her with his biggest and most adorable smile – Rose was instantly mollified and nodded, pulling his old shirt off and then putting the new one on. She tried to not include the bow tie, but he shook his head and pulled the item out of her hands, messily tying it himself. “No, it’s no good – Rose, you gotta do it!”

“You’re just sitting on the couch tonight, watching more dinosaurs and maybe playing a game or two with me and your brothers, why d’you want a bow tie?”

“Roooooooose,” he answered, his tone exasperated as if he was explaining something simple to someone that kept looking at him like he wasn’t making sense – again, it was the kind of serious emphasis only a four-year-old could perfect – “bow ties are _cool_.”

“They are, are they?”, she teased, pulling the ribbon loose again and tying it properly for him before smoothing his collar over it. “Just like fezzes were cool last week, and Stetson hats were cool the week before?”

“ _Rooooooose_ ,” Matty reiterated in that exasperated tone, though this time dialled up a notch, “bow ties are _always cool_.” The moment he’d said it, he started grasping around the seemingly-chaotic arrangement of toys on his floor before reaching underneath a chair and pulling out a large, brownish triceratops plushie, holding it up to her. “Can Tricey come down with us to play?”

“Sure she can!”, Rose said with a broad smile – as always, Matt mirrored that smile and bounded over to her, beckoning for her to pick him up and carry him back downstairs.

***

When Rose arrived back in the living room, she found the two other children, David and Chris, mid-fight – if ‘fight’ was what one would call the ten-year-old and the eight-year-old beating each other with two of the throw pillows from the couch. David’s silly glasses had already been knocked into a corner of the room, and Chris was taking full advantage of his brother’s less-than-perfect sight. All in all, it was no wonder that Rose instantly whistled on her fingers the way her mum had once shown her.

“OI! What’re you two fighting over?!”, she shouted when the two looked at her, the pillows still firmly in their hands – as soon as they noticed her standing in the doorway, Matty firmly in her arms, they both dropped their impromptu weapon and turned to her, blushing.

“I-it was Chris, he said I’m s-stupid an’ a bother-“

“No I didn’t, Dave, and I only told you to go away ‘cause you kept bothering me when I was studying-“

“You weren’t _studying_ , you were _doodlin’_ all over your notes, li’l hearts with-“

“ _Don’t you dare!_ ” Rose had heard quite enough of the two, especially considering the bright red tinge Christopher’s cheeks suddenly got and the way he looked at his feet. She supposed it was cute, really, the way the eldest of the three siblings had a little pre-teenage crush on her, but she also knew better than to indulge him. Or David, for that matter, who seemed to carry a little soft spot of his own for her.

“Now, c’mon, boys, _behave_ , or your mum’s going to be cross at the both of you. And if she’s cross at you, she might think I’m a bad influence and get you another babysitter.” As always when she said that there were a lot of babysitters out there, David and Chris both seemed overly eager to please all of a sudden, ready to move heaven and earth just to make sure she could stay as their babysitter. It was even more of a feat when she considered the fact that Christopher kept insisting that he was too old for a babysitter. However, this time, Matty spoke up as well, loudly voicing his discontent.

“No, no, you have to stay, mama can’t send you away!!”

“…Your mama’s not gonna send me away, Matty, I promise – as long as David and Chris behave-“ Instantly when she caught Matt glaring at his two brothers so intently they both glared right back without even realizing it, she halted and shook her head softly. “Matt, don't you go looking at your brothers like that, they'll behave... _won't they_?”, she added, looking at David and Chris, who looked pale at the thought of having to miss her; her two eldest charges didn't nod yet, however, causing her to smile softly as she added: “...Because if they don't behave, they'll get stuck with _miss Jones_ , and _she's_ old and wrinkly and not even half as nice as I am-”

“Okay, okay, we'll behave, we'll behave!”, David said, elbowing Chris in the ribs, prompting the eldest of the three to let escape a soft 'oof' and nodded, giving his brother a soft glare in retribution for the elbow that had poked him.

“Good, now that we've established that you'll all behave – because the same goes for _you_ , Matty...”

“I'm a good boy, I brush my teeth and eat my yucky, yucky apples and yoghurt!”, Matt instantly protested, causing Rose to chuckle and Chris to snort mirthfully as well.

“D'you know what he ate for lunch today? Fish fingers and custard. _Fish fingers and custard!_ ”, he reiterated slowly and emphatically, as if the mere mention of the dish evoked its taste. “Don't know 'bout you, Rose, but I think fish fingers and custard isn't good for little kids like Matt-”

“It iiiiiiiiiiiiis, it is, it is!” Matty protested loudly, still clutching his oversized dinosaur plushie and stomping his feet – since he was still in her arms, the effect was more comical than anything else – before adding: “I measured myself before the dinosaur show and I _grew_ , so _there!_ ”

“You grew from the fish fingers and custard?”, Rose asked, barely containing the mirth in her voice – David was a little less successful, snickering softly and trying in vain to block the sound of it from escaping by pressing his clenched fist against it.

“Yes, a whole _inch_ , and I didn't have to stand on my tippy-toes _at all_ this time!”, the four-year-old said with pride, causing David and Chris to both snicker at once and Matt to glare at them again. “Davey and Chris think it's stupid, bu-but _they're_ the ones that are _stu-stupid!_ ”, the young child reacted, and Rose spoke up soothingly again, sensing another argument in the making, this time between the two eldest and the youngest of the three children.

“Maybe Chris and Davey are just _jealous_ that you grew a _whole inch_ from something they think is not nice food... But it's their loss.”

“Yes, it is!”, the youngest of the three said brightly, motioning for the couch – a sure sign he wanted to have his feet on the ground again, Rose knew: she walked over to the couch and put him down in front of it, where he instantly dropped to his knees and mounted the oversized triceratops plushie like one would do a horse, making a soft screeching noise instead of a whinny and waddling around the table with the dinosaur firmly grasped in his hands and between his legs. Then, he paused, and added with a broad, confident grin: “Davey an' Chris wanna grow big like you, Rose, so _they_ can go kissy-kissy with you-”

“MATT!”, came the instant cry from both David and Chris: both boys blushed deeply and looked at their youngest brother in horror, mentally trying to tell him off for revealing their 'secret', which in turn caused Rose to bite her lip a little in order to hold back her laughter. Especially Chris was very easily hurt nowadays, with half of the people he knew treating him like a child and the other half like a teenager.

“'s not like it's a _secret_ , silly...”, Matty said with his usual brand of oblivious charm, continuing his waddling as he spoke, though more slowly. “'Sides, Rose is gonna _marry me_ , not _you_.” Now Rose had to bite her lip in earnest: the youngest of the three seemed to be utterly convinced that he'd won her heart – which he had, just not in that way, of course – and the other two seemed to be torn between crying out in outrage and laughing merrily along with her, which wasn't helping the situation at all. Then, looking up at her with big, round eyes, seemingly throwing all of his natural charm into it, Matty took her hand and said with all the serious calm of a man ten times his age: “Rose, marry me, you'll never regret it – I'm not silly like _them_!”

She couldn't hold in her laugh and let it out, merrily giggling while Matt was tackled to the ground by David – Chris hesitated for a second and then wisely opted out of the fight in favor of looking at Rose – he was still blushing from before, though, and his colour didn't diminish when she gave him an amused glance in return.

“They're such _children_!”, he said, over-emphatically, causing Rose to roll her eyes.

“I think it's kind of sweet, the way they're fighting over me...”

“...I'll never understand girls – one minute, they're breaking up the fight, and the next they're laughing when another fight happens!”, Chris said in an even more exasperated tone, which prompted Rose to pat him on the shoulder.

“Girls wanna feel loved, that's all. Matty's just a sweetheart, the way he just asked me to marry him because _he's the least silly of you three_ , and David's lookin' to be a real charmer as well, the way he just jumped in to fight his own brother for me... let 'em be boys, Chris. ...So, those hearts you were drawing when you were supposed to be studying...”, she said, and the eldest of the three brothers blushed again modestly.

“J-just a girl in my class, not like it's _you_ or anythin'...”, he said, looking again at his feet and prompting Rose to raise an eyebrow and grin softly when pressing the matter a little.

“Oh, your first girlfriend? What's her name?”

“H-her name's Rozlyn, bu-but-”

“Bet people call her 'Roz', hmm?” It was a handy excuse for the youth, of course, to blurt out the first name that sounded a little like her own. “So, when am I gonna meet her? Or are you gonna wait until you're both in comprehensive school until you ask her over?”

“Well, she's, uh, got a boyfriend-”

“Ah, say no more...” At their feet, Matty had managed to work his older and bigger brother to the ground and was busy half-wrestling his arms up over his head – with any other boy, it would've failed, but David wasn't big for his age and Matty was one of the most overgrown toddlers she'd seen, so he managed to subdue his brother relatively easily. “Boys, no hurting each other!”, she said sternly, but her words went ignored or were absorbed in their loud battle-cries as they continued to fight, and Rose turned to Chris again with a soft smile. “Maybe you should tell Rozlyn how you feel.”

“I-I can't, she... she doesn't fancy _me_ like I fancy her.”

“Now that's her loss, you're a handsome, smart, eloquent, and very polite and charmin' ten-year-old. Any girl your age that's not blind has to notice you.” Then, smiling broadly and patting his shoulder again, she added: “...But you'd better stop drawing hearts with _my_ name on 'em on your maths notes, or your mum's going to have something to say about it.”

The way Chris suddenly blushed and looked away from her when she tacked on a wink at the end made her giggle again. Those three – always so shy around her, but so outspoken and brash and _bold_ whenever they had their minds set on another 'adventure'.

***

“Let's have an adventure!” It was Matty who exclaimed it, laying squarely on top of his plush dinosaur which happened to lay across David's squirming form. However, any resentment his sibling might've had at the rough treatment he'd received from his younger brother vanished like snow in spring when his eager shout sounded throughout the living room. As soon as Matt's weight wasn't crushing him into the carpet anymore, David scrambled to his feet as well and nodded.

“Rose's got to play too! We can be space-travellers from the future!”

“Oh god, _space-travellers from the future_...”, Chris reiterated, rolling his eyes and giving Rose a look that was pleading for her not to indulge them, but she smiled and nodded.

“So where's our spaceship?”

“This _is_ our spaceship!”, Matty answered, grinning from ear to ear as he dashed around the living room. “This is our, uh, control thingy... and this is our screen for looking at where we're flying... and this is our red button!”, he said, bringing up one of the many toys that lay in one of the cupboards. It looked like a small cake mold, but Rose knew better than to say that. She let Chris do the honours.

“That's mum's cupcake mold, Matty, she was _angry_ when it 'got lost' last week!”

“I don't like cupcakes anyways, and it's _our red button_ , Chris. Ooh, and Tricey is our pet dinosaur-”

“You can't have dinosaurs on a spaceship,” David protested, looking at his younger brother over the rim of his glasses, lending a bit of austerity to him even though his gaze softened the next second, when Matty pouted and Chris groaned. “Okay, just this once-”

“Yesss!”, Matt cheered, jumping around the room again – David looked annoyed, but when Rose cast him a covert look she could tell that he was enjoying himself far more than he let on, if his smile was any indication. “So Tricey is our pet dinosaur, and-and-and I'll be the super-amazing brave space-traveller from the future... and Davey, you are the super-smart sciencey space-traveller from the future, you can do all sorts of timey-wimey research-”

“Timey-wimey?”, Rose said – Christopher, next to her, groaned emphatically once more – but David grinned and nodded.

“I quite like it! Our spacey-wacey, timey-wimey travelling machine!”, he said with a sing-song voice, pulling on Rose's hand. She followed him as he started dashing around the coffee table, running in circles after Matt. “We need a theme song, like... like Superman!”

“Nanananaaaaaaaa nanananaaaaaaaaa nanananaaaaaaaaaa spaaaaace and tiiiiiiiime!”, Matt all but screamed, and Rose laughed softly.

“How 'bout something with a little more _words_ , Matty? ...We're travelling through time and we go from star to star in our spacey-wacey timey-wimey travelling machine-”

“Oh god, why don't you make it even _more_ horrible?”, Chris reacted, obviously losing the battle against his undeniable will to take part in their game of pretend. However, his youngest brother clearly had other thoughts, which he voiced with an air of authority as he stopped his running and glared at the eldest boy.

“ _I_ think it's _lovely_ , because _Rose made it for us_. Now shut up, or you can be the bad guy and we'll have to fight you!” Chris looked mildly offended at the thought of having to play the villain, fortunately, and he fell in line with the fantasy-play his youngest brother was dictating upon them. “Rose... Rose is the pretty princess-”

“Rose isn't a pretty princess. Princesses are _dumb_ , Rose is _smart_ , she's gone to school _twice_ as long as Chris has!”, David said – Rose decided now wasn't a good time to explain how she actually stopped school a little too early to get a degree and graciously accepted the compliment.

“Thank you, David – Matty, you agree?”

“Yes-yes! Rose, you can be, uh... the pretty space-traveller that flies our spaceship!”

“The person that flies the spaceship ‘s called the pilot, Matt.”, Chris supplied, rolling his eyes as he crossed his legs and sat in the sofa. His grin was amused, though, and he chuckled when his youngest brother bopped him on the head with his plushie dinosaur.

“Is there anything you _don’t_ know, Chris?”

“Yeah, how to get a _normal_ girlfriend so he doesn’t have to stare at _Rose_ all the ti- whoop, you’ll need to be quicker ‘n that!”, David reacted, ducking a swing of his brother halfway through his sentence; Rose, sensing another argument in the making, motioned for the blue box that Matty was now dragging in from another room in order to distract the boys from getting upset at each other once more.

“What’s that, Matty?”

“This is the spaceship – we got out of it now, otherwise we can’t go exploring to see where we are-“

“And _when_ we are – timey-wimey travelly, remember?”, she added, ignoring Chris’ snort and looking the box over. “This looks lovely, ‘d you do it yourself?”

“Yes. Except for the tape, David was being stupid an’ he broke it-“

“And mum _fixed it_ , didn’t she?”, the middle of the three children reacted, sounding a little irked suddenly. Looking over to Chris, Rose found the eldest just sitting in the couch, looking like the last place on Earth he wanted to be at was the living room.

“Matt, David, I think we ought to let Chris return to his studying...”, Rose said half-teasingly – the reaction she got from all three was instant.

“Noooo! We need Chris, who else is going to be our cool know-it-all?”, Matty reacted – Chris maybe would've scolded his brother for calling him a 'know-it-all', even though his youngest sibling meant it in the best possible way, but David drowned out his exclamation with his own.

“No, Rose, all he's gonna do is sigh an' doodle all over his maths notes again, he wasn't studying before, y'know.” He poked his tongue out at Chris, who retaliated with another swing before speaking up as last of the three.

“Nah, Rose, I wanna stay and play, the maths isn't going into my brain anyway an' you probably can use a hand managing _these two_. They're handfuls.” There was that hint of preteen self-importance again, Rose noticed: the way he puffed up suddenly and gave his brothers a look that said 'you'd better not give Rose a hard time or else' were all sound indications that he genuinely believed he was capable of exercising control over his two younger brothers. All in all, it was enough to make Rose smile and nod as she answered, carefully choosing her words so as to gently poke fun at the flaw in his reasoning but at the same time not make that self-confidence vanish into thin air again.

“...You say you'll help me manage them _now_ , but in five minutes they'll have dragged you into the game as well and you'll have forgotten all about this conversation... but okay, on your own head be it – if you're sure you can manage this maths test tomorrow...”

“I'm sure.”, Chris said with no small measure of hesitation in his voice – showing that, whatever he pretended to be, 'sure' wasn't among the list – before launching himself into the game of pretend adventures headlong. “So basically, Matty, Rose, David and I are your crew?”

“No, silly Chris, we're _all_ crew, I'm not the captain of the TARDIS-”

“Wait, 'scuse me – the TARDIS? Is that the name of our spaceship?”, Rose interrupted – Matt nodded and patted the blue box that represented their ship.

“Yes, it's a _clever_ name, David came up with it...”

“Matty pestered me for a name for his ship, so I opened one of my physics books and said the first sentence of the random page I opened it up on would contain the ship's name. Turns out Matty liked the entire sentence. It was about not being able to know the exact position of a particle all the time and that it's possible that a particle doesn't have the same speed all the time when it can travel about freely-” He was embarking again on one of his endless paroles – when sciences were involved, David sometimes lost track of himself – only to be stopped by his younger brother.

“Yeah, _okay_ , David, you gave the TARDIS a really clever and cool name, but Rose wants to _play_ , not _talk_ – and the TARDIS is her own captain.”

“Spaceship's a she, then?”, Rose asked, musing internally that she should've known – men would always be little boys and it figured that even a young child like Matty would identify the object he loved most as female because of the emotional attachment.

“Not just _a she_ , a really amazing she! She's just as strong and brave and smart as we are! Now come on, we're on the planet of the super-silly space horses and Tricey likes it here!”, he exclaimed – rather than laugh at the four-year-old's imagination, Rose nodded and fell in line with his fantastic image.

“Look, uh, brave Matty, what are all those weird creatures? They look like horses, only sillier – and in outer space!” When Chris suppressed a groan, Rose tacked on a whispered plea in his direction: “...Chris, please, you don't _have_ to play but if you don't want to play the 'super-silly space horses' or the bad guy, I suggest you start playing along.” Instantly, the eldest of the three followed her lead, commenting on how weird they galloped – and before she knew it, Matt had weaved a childish though compelling adventure around them, and she readily let the fantasy world of the eager four-year-old absorb her.

***

“...Was that the doorbell?”, David asked, poking his head out from underneath the coffee table. Matt, sitting on top his dinosaur plushie again and running through the room slowly with it, as if the dinosaur was taking him somewhere and not the other way around, paused as well and then nodded.

“Think it was. Chris, can't _you_ go and open it?”

“Matty, it's six o'clock in the evening – if anyone opens the door, it should be an _adult_ -”

“Where d'you see an adult, Rose?”, Chris remarked with a grin – he still wore the old tablecloth around his shoulders like a cape, and laughed softly when Rose tried to punch him against the shoulder.

“Oi, you, don't get cheeky! I'm an adult, I'm nineteen, remember? 'Sides, even if I wouldn't be an adult, I'm more responsible than the three of you combined-” All three boys started laughing simultaneously, as if they'd secretly agreed to do so; rather than scold all of them or risk laughing along with them, because the idea of her as a responsible adult _was_ somewhat funny, Rose shook her head and headed down the hall, to the front door, opening it to reveal a young couple dressed to the nines. They both looked surprised that she opened the door, and finally the woman spoke up with a thick Scottish accent.

“...Must be the wrong house... but the plaque said 'Idris', I don't understand-”

“Oh!”, Rose gasped, realizing who the two mystery visitors had to be. “Oh, you must be mister and misses Williams! No, this is the right house, I'm just... I'm the babysitter – miss Idris's gone out on a date, she forgot she had plans when she agreed to keep your daughter for the night. But she informed me and I'm already minding her three boys, so you could say she made arrangements for you.”

“Oh – oh, if we'd known...”, the woman said, but her husband shook his head and patted his wife on the arm.

“The girl looks capable enough, miss Idris clearly trusts her, and if she can handle _three boys,_ she can also handle our little girl...” The woman's visage softened before a sigh escaped her and she turned to her husband, giving him a soft kiss, before turning to Rose again.

“Well, I s'pose it's as good as renting a babysitter of our own... Alex! C'mon, say hi to miss, uh...”

“Rose.”, Rose supplied with a smile – the woman smiled back as she repeated the name to her daughter.

“Miss Rose, she'll be your babysitter for tonight. Now, while you're at miss Idris' house, you _behave_ , hear me? No hair-pulling, no kicking or biting or scratching, no taking anything from the cupboards or the fridge without asking nicely first, an' no sneaking out of bed tonight! If we get any complaints, you're not allowed to go on any more play-dates this month!”

“I _know_ , mum...”, came the grumbled reply – from behind the slender silhouette of misses Williams stepped a girl with an untameable mane of light brown curls and a bright, open, inquisitive face. It made Rose smile encouragingly at her.

“I think she'll enjoy her stay – miss Idris' youngest is close to her age, and the other two boys are charming and perfect gentlemen.”

“Oh, believe me, it's not them my wife's concerned about – our girl's a little bit of a, uh, _wild child_ and she's got a tendency to get in fights.” Rose looked down at the little girl again, feeling a little disbelieving that such a sweet girl could be a miniature minx, but then she remembered how much trouble Chris, David and even little Matty got in despite their charm and sweetness and she nodded.

“I'm experienced in breaking up fights and settlin' disputes by now – miss Idris' boys aren't exactly perfect li'l angels either. Like I said, she'll enjoy her stay. ...Come along, Alex, and I'll introduce you to the boys!”, she tacked on, holding out her hand – the girl, however, ignored the hand and simply walked over to her side, looking a little torn between worry and mischief. Deciding to quickly get the girl inside and settled in the living room before she decided she felt more mischievous than worried, Rose turned back to the Williamses. “...Those are her stuff?”

“She's got her toothbrush, her toys – in case the boys don't have anything she likes – her pyjamas, a fresh pair of undies just in case, soap, and a card with the number of my father, in case things get out of hand – he would've loved having her over but he's sadly a bit... absent-minded... he'd forget she was in the house.”, the husband supplied before handing her the little backpack. Rose nodded.

“Anythin' else I need to know?”

“Keep a good eye on 'er.”, misses Williams said – Rose thought she was maybe joking, but her face showed calmth and a little bit of worry. Torn between sharing that worry and instantly dismissing it as a parent's concern, Rose decided to go for the middle ground, nodding and replying with the same calmth in her voice.

“I will. You have fun at the party, mister and misses Williams – and don't worry, she's in good hands here.” The couple waved at their daughter as they walked back to their car – Alex waved back, smiling sweetly, though Rose could already see that she'd decided on mischief while she'd been busy talking to her parents. As she slowly closed the door, she addressed the little girl tentatively: “Me and the boys were busy playing pretend that we were adventurers travelling through space and time, d'you feel like joining in?”

“Maybe... are there bad aliens that need shooting?”, the girl asked, her voice high-pitched but already having that pleasant undertone that betrayed she'd have a wonderful way with words, somewhat like Chris. Rose shrugged.

“I dunno, it's Matty's game, really... we'll ask him if there are bad aliens that need shooting.” The girl seemed appeased by her answer, following at her heels as Rose walked back to the living room, where she found David and Chris once again arguing while Matt had disappeared into their 'spaceship'. Fortunately, this time they hadn't yet resorted to using the throw pillows again to shove each other around, and all that was happening was a few less-than-kind words being slung back and forth. However, they were a little too colourful to really be okay for a five-year-old, so she whistled on her fingers again to draw their attention.

However, the moment before she could ask what had set them off this time, David turned pale and groaned.

“ _Oh no..._ ”

“Heh, hello, David...” Alex sounded very unlike a five-year-old when she winked at the boy of eight: in fact, the way she suddenly leaned against the doorframe, the way she waved at him and batted her eyelashes, they reminded Rose of Shareen, her best friend. The only thing that was wrong with that thought was that Shareen was _twenty_ and she only acted that way when they were at a party and she was looking to hook up. That wasn't how a five-year-old should act. Where had Alex learnt _that_?

“Oh, so _you're_ Alex!”, Christopher said, grinning broadly while he glanced at his brother. “Why so sad, Davey? She looks _sweet-_ ”

“ _It isn't true!_ You know it isn't true, Chris!! Don't you... you... You stop... pretending it is!”, the middle of the three boys stammered, clearly feeling beside himself with shame and slight anger at the little girl that was _still overtly looking at David as though he was a tray of cookies_. “A-and you, _stop lookin' at me like that!!_ ”

“Oh, but David-” As the two started arguing back and forth, Rose looked at Chris, who was still looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

“What's going on?”

“Oh, we had a visit of the pre-schoolers last week – it was fun, Matty got to see our classrooms and all and we got to play games with them, all good fun... until the last class entered, with Alex in it. She took _one look_ at David and she instantly started proclaiming how good he looked and how perfect he was... and when her cookie fell at playtime and David was smart enough to offer her one of his, she instantly started thinking that made her his _girlfriend_. She's been _very persistent_ ever since, waiting for Dave after school, walkin' behind him, she even fought with one of the girls from David's class 'cause she thought she was makin' eyes at him. Can you imagine?”

“Poor Alex-”, Rose instantly said, but Chris shook his head, grinning impossibly broadly now.

“Poor _other girl –_ Alex wiped the floor with 'er. Nearly twice her age an' Alex still won-”

“ _Stop trying to kiss me, I don't want it!!_ ”, David exclaimed, drawing Rose's attention back to the unfortunate boy and the visiting girl – true to Chris' story, she seemed very persistent, subduing David with unnatural ease for a girl nearly half his age, though he still managed to avoid getting kissed by her. “ _Rooooooose!!”_ , he exclaimed – deciding that her pity for the boy she'd already baby-sitted for weeks and months was greater than her mirth at the situation he'd gotten himself into, Rose walked over to Alex and crouched down next to her.

“Alex, dear, if David doesn't want a kiss from you, you should let him go. Who knows, he might change his mind later, when you're not pulling his arms 'round you.” For a few seconds, Alex looked at her defiantly, unsettling Rose, but then she smiled and let David go – as the boy was still struggling to escape her lips, he stumbled backwards and fell on his behind with a soft 'thud'. Chris chuckled at the sight, those chuckles turning to laughter when David scrambled backwards over the ground, putting a sizeable distance between himself and the girl that had virtually assaulted him.

“Chris, you shut up!”, David said, only succeeding in making his brother laugh harder. However, David seemed to be desperate and very vindictive due to Alex' trying to get her lips on his, because he glared at Chris and added: “I-if you don't shut up right now, I'm... I'm telling mum _and Rose_ what I caught you doing yesterday!”

“ _You wouldn't dare!_ ”, Chris said, effectively going from amused to enraged in a single heartbeat – then, as if to add to the pandemonium, Matty scrambled from the box and looked at the gathered company in confusion.

“What's going on, why aren't we playing anymore?”

Alex turned to look at Matty, Rose noticed – probably because his voice sounded familiar, they were in school together after all – but then, she took three brisk steps towards the four-year-old, who was looking at her with that mixture of wonder and slight apprehension like he always looked whenever he met someone new, placed her hands on his shoulders and planted her lips smack onto his with a resounding 'mwah'. The effect was instantaneous: Chris' anger was forgotten in favour of sheer shock, David looked like he'd been run over by a bus, and Matt instantly became beet red and backpedaled into his box so swiftly he looked like he'd vanished into thin air. To make matters worse, Alex called out to him.

“Oh, come on, sweetie, don't be like that!”

“...Now _this_ might be interesting...”, Chris said, and Rose pressed a hand against her head, feeling a headache rear its ugly head.

***

“...Come on, Matty, Alex _promises_ she won't kiss you again!”, Rose called ten minutes later, when she'd given Alex a – hopefully _stern –_ talking-to about when and how to kiss a boy and told Chris to go back to his studying so she and 'the kids' could play without a nosy preteen laughing at every thing that they did. David had just stood at the couch, aimlessly pushing around the triceratops plushie with the tip of his left sneaker.

“I promise, sweetie!”, Alex added – that probably didn't help her efforts any, Rose mused, especially since Matt's only response was a muffled 'go 'way' and a distinct shuffling of his spaceship-box towards the corner, away from where Alex stood. Then, however, Alex turned to David, who involuntarily took a step back again. “Relax, David, I won't kiss _you –_ you're sweet, but your brother is even _more_ perfect and cute. I want _him_ now.”

“Well, you can't have me, I'm marrying _Rose_ , so _there_.”, Matty said, having poked his head out of the box as soon as he felt the coast was clear. Alex snorted and looked Rose over, giving her the uncomfortable feeling that the five-year-old was sizing her up and deciding a plan of attack – fortunately, David reacted before she could.

“Matty, so far you've said you'd marry mum, Rose, and miss Clara. You can't marry them all anyway-”

“Sure I can!”, Matty reacted, crawling out of the box just to be able to cross his arms and pout in front of his brother. Rose decided that now was as good a time as any to intervene before things got out of hand again.

“Davey's right, you can't marry three women, you're gonna have to choose some day...”

“But that's impossible, you're all good and lovely!”, Matty protested again, which led to Rose motioning for the youngest of the three brothers to come sit next to her on the couch. He crawled into her lap – earning her a glare from Alex, who really didn't seem too fond of how close the boy she'd already labelled as 'hers' got to someone she perceived as a threat – and grabbed hold of his triceratops plushie again before looking at her questioningly, knowing she was going to explain what she meant.

“...Boys and girls can only marry once, you see, so they have to make sure they choose for all the right reasons. They have to make sure they can spend the rest of their life with that person, because if they can't...” When Matty looked up at her, confusion and misunderstanding clear in his eyes, she smiled and decided to approach the subject a little differently. “...You remember how we played before? The space-travelling adventurers from the future? Would they let just anyone become a space-traveller that can also travel in time?” Clearly, she'd chosen the right approach, because Matt perked up instantly, his fantasy blossoming again to allow him to divine the answer for the questions.

“Nooooo! You have to pass a lot of hard tests, with all sorts of questions... and you have to be really fit and all... and you have to be _good_ , because if you're _bad_ then you can't travel, or you'd do all sorts of harm... But in the end, when you're an adventurer and you have all kinds of fun, that doesn't matter. You kind of forget 'bout that.”

“Does everyone want to be a space-travelling adventurer from the future?”

“No, but the people that don't want to be one are just _silly!_ ”

“Well, belonging to someone is the same as becoming a space-and-time-travelling adventurer: there's all sorts of crazy demands you've got to meet, all kinds of things you have to be to be _just right_ for that one person. You can't just choose the first person that comes along that fancies you, you have to _figure out_ if he or she is good and right for you. And maybe someone doesn't want to belong to you, but then they're just being silly... just like you're being silly now disliking Alex-”

“ _But she kissed me on the lips!_ She wants to go kissy-kissy with me and _I don't like it_. It’s _icky!_ ”, he said in an over-the-top, extremely emphatic whisper, causing Rose to bite her lip to hold in a chuckle. While she tried to control her laughter, David spoke on sagely, saying what she couldn't get voiced without giggling softly.

“Mum told you, only _grown-ups_ like Rose and her boyfriend 'go kissy-kissy'. And if you don't like that Alex kisses you like that, just _tell her_ , she'll stop. Won't she?”, he added, glaring at the girl – any other girl would recoil and say ‘yes’ just to escape the boy’s gaze, but she crossed her arms and shook her head.

“I _know_ he likes me!”

“Well, I don’t _dislike_ you, Alex, but please, no more icky kisses?” The girl smiled and nodded – ‘ _finally_ ’, Rose caught herself thinking – speaking sweetly.

“No more icky kisses, sweetie.” However, then, her smile turned into a broad, almost challenging grin and her voice got a cheeky tone as she added: “Only _good_ kisses.”

“ _ROOOOSE, make her stop!!_ ”, Matt instantly shouted, and Rose turned to the house guest with a look that she hoped was austere.

“Alex, you're not gonna make any friends in 'ere if you're not nice to the boys... and neither Matty nor David's gonna like you if you keep pushing them. 'Sides, you and Matty both have to do a little bit of growing before you're at the right age to start _kissing_...” The girl didn't seem all that convinced, but she didn't show any signs of wanting to argue or of accosting the four-year-old anymore, so Rose sighed. “...Matty, do you wanna play some more? Have another adventure? Or d'you wanna watch television?”

“...Another adventure, please. We were jus' finished exploring the planet of the silly space-horses-”

“Oh, did we go away from there again?”, Rose asked with a broad smile.

“Yes we did – Davey and me, we went to the planet of the diamond turtles next! Chris tried to pilot our TARDIS but he was _rubbish_ , you're the only one that can fly it well, Rose. ...Alex can be a space-adventurer from the future too-”, he started, and the girl grinned at him.

“D'you have guns?”

“No, why would adventurers have _guns_? Then you wouldn't have any adventures, because everyone would be _afraid_ of you!”, Matty reacted – David rolled his eyes and looked at the younger girl, elaborating the statement.

“Our mum's not fond of us playing with guns, so she didn't buy any toy guns for us – besides, we don't like playing with them anyway.” Alex turned to her backpack, which stood beside the couch now, and pulled out a toy gun that rattled when she pulled the trigger, grinning as she replied to both boys.

“Well, _I_ like guns, and _I_ am gonna _use_ them. If that means I have to play the 'bad guy' now-”

“ _No_ , you're not the bad guy...”, Matty admitted, looking at the toy gun as if it was a living snake, the same kind of apprehension in his eyes as before, when he was still afraid the girl would kiss him again. “...I don't like it – Rose, what do I do?”

“Well, it's only proper and nice to let Alex play along with you... even if she likes to play with a toy gun and shoot some of the bad guys sometimes...” The four-year-old looked at Alex again – she blew him a kiss, which made him blush, but he didn't crawl away anymore and he didn't exclude her from their game, instead speaking to her while looking fixedly at his shoes, probably afraid she'd tease him again.

“Okay, you can be the one that saves us when we run into bad guys-”

“Ooh, I'd save _you_ in a heartbeat, sweetie...”, she admitted, smiling broadly when he blushed again and adding on: “...and you look absolutely _wonderful_ when you're all blushy and shy...”

“ _Rooooooooose..._ she's doin' it again, make her stop...”, Matty complained in a soft whimper, and Rose sighed, patting the youngest boy on his head consolingly.

“Well, you do look adorable when you're blushing and trying to curl up behind your dinosaur plushie to hide...”

“I'm not 'adorable'-”, he started defending himself: unfortunately, Alex heard and nodded in agreement.

“You're definitely not 'adorable', no – you're _hot_.”

“ _ROOOOOOOOOOOSE!! Make Alex stoooooop!!_ ”, Matt exclaimed, looking horrified – 'so much for not understanding what the girl had meant', Rose caught herself thinking. The girl really _was_ a mini-minx, like the mind of a very liberal woman trapped in the body of a very young girl. Wondering faintly what she'd done to deserve this kind of pandemonium, Rose found herself contemplating finding the glue again just so she could have some kind of mischief on her hands she could still _manage_ instead of this girl challenging the youngest boy with wiles she wasn't supposed to have or even know about yet.

“...Oh, I am _so happy_ she hasn't got her sights set on me anymore...”, David sighed next to her, looking a little ashamed as well if his blush was anything to go by. “She used to pinch my behind an' everything, can you imagine? It _hurt_ , too!”

“...And now you're glad she's going to do that to Matty?”, Rose questioned – fear and worry together with apprehension rolled over the eight-year-old's features before they settled on a worried frown.

“N-no, she... she wouldn't pinch him, he wouldn't understa-”

“ _Rose,_ tell Alex to leave my bottom _aloooone!_ ”, Matty wailed, hurriedly climbing onto the sofa again next to her and trying to crawl into her lap again in order to escape the girl. That settled things for Rose. She rose from the couch, Matty in her arms.

“Alex, you and Matty are coming with me to the kitchen, and we're going to have a nice long talk, _together_ , about how little boys and little girls are supposed to play together. David, you watch some television – if I have to come out of the kitchen to break up another fight between you and Christopher, I'll have _both_ of your hides and I'll tell your mum I'll only come 'round to babysit if it's just Matty and _you two_ won't get to see me again.” Dragging the girl along, Rose felt like she was sticking her hand in a barrel of eels, all twisting and trying to escape her grip, but she held on. She'd had enough of those shenanigans from the _boys_ , she would _not_ let a _girl_ get away with causing a ruckus when everything went okay for once.

***

“...I'm sorry, Matty...” It had taken twenty minutes and some of the most serious faces she'd ever had to make to a child, along with some of the most _embarrassing_ things she'd ever had to _tell_ a five-year-old, but it had clearly paid off. Alex had looked increasingly more put off the longer she went on about what Matty felt at the moment and how he really wanted nothing more than to run far, far away from her, which she guessed the girl didn't want. “I really, really like you – you have nice hair, and nice eyes, and a nice everything, and I think you're smart and sweet and great... and just perfect...”

“Why... why d'you always wanna _kiss_ me? It's like David and Rose and my mama said, I'm _too young_ to go kissy-kissy with someone, even if I like them very much-”

“So you like _me_ very much?”, Alex asked – Rose didn't realize how sharp her observations were until Matty blushed again and aimlessly wobbled his legs a little.

“M-maybe I like you... I mean, you're very pretty, and I'm not upset you kissed me anymore...”

“Heh, I'll bet you'll even _like_ that I kissed you in another five minutes...” Rose rolled her eyes and looked sternly – at least, she _hoped_ it was a stern look she was giving the girl – when she spoke up.

“Oi, don't go pushin' it, he's four and you're five, you're not supposed to go around kissing everyone you meet-”

“Oh, but I don't, only the people I really, really like.”, Alex said, winking at Matty – the boy blushed but he didn't instantly cower away anymore, which was probably the best reaction she could hope for, Rose knew. If he still ran away, the two would never manage to get along for the evening; if he was too eager, she had a whole world of other, far less pleasant, trouble to look forward to. “Anyway, can we go play now? I really wanna be an adventurer. I'll be your adventurer girlfriend, Matty, and I'll always save you, no matter what trouble you're in!” It sounded promising – Matty hesitated for a while before nodding and reaching for Rose to carry him again, only for Alex to shake her head and grab his hand. “We have to hold hands if I'm your girlfriend, silly!”

“...Oh, yeah...” He smiled just a little, a quick flash of a smile really, Rose noticed with just a little bit of mirth. There was no denying that Alex was at the very least fascinated by Matt, and in turn Matt seemed to become more and more enraptured by Alex, feisty and pretty as she was. Therefore, it was hardly a surprise when the boy, as soon as they arrived in the living room to find David and Chris looking at a comedy show, grinned and pushed her to the cardboard box he'd so beautifully drawn and painted on. “Chris, Davey, we're gonna adventure again!”, he announced, one eye monitoring whether Alex got into the box well and the other eye on his brothers to carefully gauge their reaction. As Rose had already guessed, Chris groaned.

“Not _again_ , I like this show!”

“Chris, you're perfectly free to go to your room and read if you don't want to play.”, Rose reacted, causing the preteen to snort and shake his head.

“Why can't they go play in Matty's room?”

“Oh, he's the smart one, is he?” Suddenly, Alex poked her head out of the box again, and when Chris shrugged and turned to her, she gave a short snort of her own. “Rose has a point – either you're an adult and you do adult things like reading and _letting your little brother play_ , or you're a kid and you do kid things like _play with your little brother_.” The living room was silent after her words: Chris looked like he was struck by lightning for once, while David just looked from Alex to his brother and back in clear shock and Matty looked at the girl that had proclaimed herself his girlfriend with awe. Rose, finally, just stood and looked at all of them, wondering how this nerve would translate to her own task and whether it'd make things easier or more difficult.

“...Okay, okay, I'll play, I'll play! Christ almighty...”, Chris admitted after a while, looking every bit like a sulking ten-year-old – the glare he cast Alex was more than enough indication of his foul mood, though it felt to Rose like he'd drop his grudges fairly quickly once they were fully immersed in the game. “Just don't expect me to play a space turtle or somethin'.”

“We've _had_ the space-turtles, now we're going to the crystal planet to find the jewel-people! Chris, you're the leader of the jewel-people. David can be our smarty-guy again, doing all our researches... and Rose can be our pilot... and me and Alex will go with Tricey to explore!”, he finished, taking up his dinosaur plushie again. Alex nodded, smiling so broadly that Rose wondered whether her cheeks didn't hurt.

“She's a lovely triceratops, she'll be _perfect_ for all our exploring!” David and Chris snickered when they watched Matty and Alex _both_ trying to waddle around with the same dinosaur plushie wedged securely between their knees, but when Alex spoke up again, their smiles died instantly. “Oh, Matty, sweetie, this is such a _lovely_ planet, all shiny and sparkly... you're such a great boyfriend for taking me here!”

“Well, Alex, dear, I aim to please my girlfriend.”

“They're not serious.”, Chris said, looking at Rose, who shrugged. “They're _seriously_ not serious.”

“Don't mind them...”, Alex voiced loudly, glaring at Chris again before giving yet another broad, sweet smile to Matt, “...Chris and David are just _jealous_ because _they_ don't have a girlfriend when they're _older than you_!”

“I am _not jealous_!”, Chris said loudly – for a second, everything was silent in the living room, and then David snorted loudly, and Alex giggled girlishly, and finally Matt and even Rose joined in, laughing softly at an increasingly reddening Chris.

***

“...Are the four of you hungry?”, Rose asked. Their game of makebelief had finally devolved into Chris and David having another, albeit more gentle and brotherly, pillowfight, which had then turned into a fight using words instead of throw pillows, and in the end even that had whittled down to a somewhat lazy exchange of teasing remarks with David seated on the ground between the couch and the low table and Christopher laying on one end of the couch, his legs dangling over the armrest. “I mean, _I_ am hungry.” Chris, true to his ten years of age, instantly spoke up.

“Are you gonna make pancakes again?” Rose rolled her eyes: there hadn't been a single time when she'd had to babysit the boys during the evening when they hadn't asked her to make pancakes.

“If your mum has all the ingredients-”

“Yes, _fantastic_!”, the teen said, grinning broadly at David, who grinned back – that alone told Rose all she needed to know.

“...You told your mum to buy the ingredients, didn't you?” The boys blushed slightly but nodded. “...Matty, you're awful quiet-”, Rose started, looking by her side only to find the boy gone. “Matty?”

“Waiiiit a seeeeeecooooond!”, came a shout from down the hallway – something which surprised Rose enough for her to step into the hallway. And there, to her surprise, she saw Matt come out of the bathroom by himself. “Rose, I did it, I used the grown-ups toilet!”

“That's... how did you manage it?”, she asked, feeling stunned. Normally, the four year old boy was daunted by so many things, like the dark hallway, the steps and the adjustment toilet seat his mother had bought for the purpose of potty-training her three youngest, and most importantly of all the task of _how to wipe his own bottom_ after a big bathroom break – and now, suddenly, he'd done that.

“Oh, just... I figured, now that I have a _girlfriend_ , I shouldn't be afraid of silly things anymore, like the hallway, or falling off the steps and into the toilet. Alex went with me, too-”

“Hey, now, I don't like the two of ya runnin' off alone, okay?”

“We weren't misbehaving...”, Matty quickly defended himself, though he blushed slightly which told Rose that he maybe had adjusted his mental definition of 'misbehaving' to exclude whatever it was that the girl had railroaded him into now.

“...Did she kiss you again?”

“N-no, why d'you think _that_?!” The volume of his voice as well as the intensity of his blush rose, and Rose shook her head with a soft sigh. It wasn't misbehaving, sure, but it wasn't exactly innocent either.

“I might have to put you in rooms on the opposite ends of the house tonight before your mum returns, or you'll get up to all kinds of mischief-”

“ _Noooo_ , we didn't do anything bad, we just needed to go potty! I don't like that she'll have to sleep on the other side of the _house_!”, the little boy complained, looking like the world was coming to an end in front of his eyes, and Rose looked at him sternly.

“Well, then, how about telling me why the two of you went off to the toilet _alone_? And don't go pretendin' nothin' happened, I saw that cheeky li'l blush of yours, Matty!” The toddler blushed again, but before he could speak, the sound of a flushing toilet issued from the bathroom and Alex exited, pulling her skirt straight again. “Alex, do _you_ mind tellin' me why you and Matty went off to the toilet alone?”

“We needed to use the toilet – I stood here while Matt went, and Matt stood here while I went. No big deal.” However, the girl was a little too late in hiding her self-satisfied grin, and Rose groaned.

“Look, unless one of you is goin' to tell me _right now_ what happened, _someone_ is going to sleep behind a _locked door-”_

“ _...I-I-I_ wanted to give Alex a cookie but then we had to go to the bathroom!”, Matty stammered out hastily – Alex looked surprised but didn't deny it, though Rose still had her suspicions that more than cookies had been on the two children's minds. Nevertheless, her youngest charge's blush made sense now.

“Matty, what did your mum tell you about eating cookies before dinner?”, she asked sternly – Matt blushed even more profusely, while Alex looked a little sorry but still didn't speak up.

“...T-that it's not allowed and that I should eat my dinner first...”

“So no cookies, d'you hear? ...You two, you're gonna give me white hair in _one single night_...”, she added when Matty and Alex gingerly kept holding hands somewhat tenaciously, even while being scolded. Still, Rose wasn't blind to the way Alex' presence made Matty more bold and outgoing, and she presumed that Alex' earlier apologies had been mainly due to Matty's calm, shy demeanour. In the end, it was Matty's quiet mumble that had her relax again.

“...We promise we'll behave alllll night again, just please don't lock me or Alex up in a room all alone, _pleeeeaaaaase?_ ”

“Oh, okay, but you'd better behave – if I have to complain to your mum, you'll have a _lot_ to explain to her, and then Alex may not be allowed over for play-dates anymore.” The horrified expression on Matty's face told her that he did not look forward to being separated from his new girlfriend at all, and Alex looked similarly shocked – in the end, Rose decided to lighten their moods again with the mention of the dinner she had planned. “You two are in luck – David and Chris managed to talk me into making pancakes for dinner-”

“Pancakes!”, Matty exclaimed, running away quickly – so quickly that Alex was pulled along with an audible 'whoo' of surprise – and then returning equally quickly with his triceratops plushie in his free hand. “Can Alex and I have pancakes with butter and brown sugar?”, he asked, his eyes once again large and round and pleading – she was mollified almost instantly and nodded.

“You can, but no mucking about, you hear? Last time your mum said her sandwiches tasted like sugar for a week! Sugar on one side, butter on the other, and _I_ cut the pancakes. ...Alex, d'you like anything else on your pancakes?”

“No, I'll eat them however Matty eats them... but can I watch you make the pancakes?”, she asked – this time, there was none of the almost shameful fire in the little girl's eyes, but rather a very precocious gleam. Not for the first time, Rose had the image of the mind of a much older girl stuffed into a young girl's body. Then again, she mused, she got that vibe off the boys, too, so maybe the four children were actually the ideal company for each other. However, before she could ask why the girl wanted that, Alex already answered the question: “When Matty and I are older, and we're married, then I have to be able to make him pancakes-”

“Oh, Alex, you and Matty still have a _long_ way to go before you can marry, and in the meantime there'll be plenty of time to learn how to make him pancakes, or how he likes being tucked in, or which hat he prefers-”

“I _told_ you, Rose, _fezzes are cool_ -”, Matty instantly defended himself, but his new self-proclaimed girlfriend shook her head and rolled her eyes, looking at the boy with overt ridicule for that opinion. So effective was her look that Matty pouted, nearly crossing his arms until he realized that that meant letting go of River's hand, which he didn't seem quite ready to do. He did, however, mutter an additional: “ _Fezzes are cool, and girls are crazy_.”

“Oi, you, we're not crazy... now come on, before David and Chris get so hungry they start eating the raw ingredients.”

“Yuck, who would eat _flour_ and _raw eggs_?”, Matt said, causing Rose to chuckle until a retort came from the door leading to the living room; looking up from the adorable youth's surprised face, Rose saw Chris stand at the doorway.

“That's funny coming from the one that ate _fish fingers and custard for lunch_.” Matt glared at his eldest brother, but before anyone else could speak, Alex did so, her voice clearly showing unfaltering defiance and her eyes having that spark of mischief again that Rose was coming to dread.

“ _Nobody cares_ that you find that icky, you just don't have the _sense of adventure_ Matt has, you dolt.”

“...I don't know 'bout you, Matty, but I'm starting to think Alex needs to come over and play with you _every day_.”, David said, pushing past a dumbstruck Chris – meanwhile, Alex gave a little indulgent chuckle as she grabbed Matt's hand again and pulled him along to the kitchen door, where she patiently waited for Rose, but not without the youngest of the three boys answering his brother's sentiment.

“Yes, I think so too. But her mama and dad have to let her-”

“I'm sure they'll let me come over and play a lot, maybe even all the time. I mean, I have the coolest mum and dad, they're still real young compared to your mum.” She then looked at Matt with a big, overly-sweet smile again, like a cat about to pounce a ball of yarn, and Matt blushed a little, looking away.

“...Maybe I sometimes can come over to your house and play – I mean, David an' Chris probably don't like havin' to play with me all the time, and they always have _boring stuff_ they need to do-”

“Reading about quantum physics isn't 'boring', Matt!”, David instantly reacted, and Chris seemed to have found his voice again as well.

“That 'boring stuff' is _important_ , for _later_ when you're a grown-up and you have a _job_ , you can't keep on playing pretend all your life.”

“'Course I can, just watch me! Me an' Alex, we're going to grow up, and get married, and we'll _never stop being adventurers_! Isn't that right, Alex?”

“Yes, we'll always have adventures, and we'll always have them together, sweetie.”, Alex responded before giving a big wet kiss right on Matty's cheek. The two older brothers instantly snickered as Matt, wide-eyed and startled, blushed and absent-mindedly wiped his cheek dry.

Nevertheless, Rose saw from the corner of her eye as she walked over to the kitchen cupboard to take a mixing bowl, that Matty pressed a shy but still all-too-obvious kiss on River's cheek in return before sauntering into the kitchen as well. Mentally, Rose started wondering whether Alex and Matt should even be allowed much more play-dates, since the two seemed dead set on acting half like children and half like teenagers in love. Then again, she mused as Alex pushed a chair over to the kitchen countertop and climbed on it with ease, at least the worst they'd gotten up to was a few stolen kisses and maybe some inappropriate pinches doled out to Matty's behind, it wasn't like they had been setting fire to the curtains or torturing the cat. It could be worse.

She only hoped that she wouldn't see how much worse it could actually be. She didn't think her mental image of Matty could handle a blow like that.

***

“Who still has room for one more?”, Rose asked, knowing full well that the only answers she would get were mutters of 'noooo' and 'so full'. Even Alex fell in with the trend, half-laying on her chair, fork still firmly in hand. “Not even a little bite?”, she asked teasingly – the mutters intensified but none of the four children actually voiced that they wanted even the most minute part of the pancakes that were left, which meant that Rose could finally dig in and eat her fill. She did so happily, spreading cane sugar over the topmost pancake before rolling it up and starting on the next one, and then finally the third and last one, cutting all three pancakes at once and then slowly eating the pieces. As always when she used her grandma’s recipe, the pancakes were light and yet full of flavour, and the cane sugar made for a crunchy bite to each piece while still keeping them savoury rather than sickly sweet. “Okay, the four of ya...”, she said loudly when she'd finished her last piece. “...I need a volunteer for helping with the dishes, no way I'm letting your mum come home to a stack of dirty plates, forks and knives. And I've got bad news for David and Chris, because I need someone who can reach the top cupboards, so Matty and Alex are excused from duty.”

“Yay, no washing dishes!”, Matty said, grinning somewhat teasingly at his brothers. Surprisingly, Chris bore his fate with little to no complaints – probably due to the pancakes and the fullness of his stomach, Rose mused, guessing that not even a teenage boy could complain when his stomach was full of delicious, sugary food – and David just shrugged.

“I'll help. Chris was taping the comedy show, so he'll probably want to go back to watchin' that, and Matty and Alex can-”

“Matty and Alex are staying in the kitchen, too.”, she said – looking at Matt and his newfound girlfriend, she gave them a somewhat challenging look. “You said you'd behave for the rest of the evening, and I want to make _sure_ that you _do_. Besides, Chris studied very hard for his maths test, so he _deserves_ a little bit of rest for 'imself.”

“Thanks, Rose, you're fantastic!”, Chris admitted before briskly heading back to the living room, closing the door to the kitchen behind him while David took the dishtowel and walked over to stand next to Rose as she started washing the dirty dishes – Matt and Alex pitched in as well, gathering the cutlery for her and depositing it into the soapy water, giggling when they got foam on their hands.

“...Rose, can we play just a little bit?”, Alex asked, and Rose shook her head with a somewhat sad sigh.

“It's a bit cramped for you and Matty to play around – if one of us trips and the plates fall, Matty's mum is going to be very angry at all of us. …But it won't take long, Alex, so you and Matty can maybe tell stories, or talk about all the things you're going to do together when you're the same age as David, or Chris' age, or my age... or even your mum and dad's age-”

“Heh, or my mum's age – my mum's very old, Alex, she's, like, _fifty_.”, Matty said emphatically, grinning when Alex reacted like he expected, with a startled gasp.

“Wow, your mum's _so old_ and she still had you?”

“Our mum's _forty-eight_ , Matty, not fifty, and I think she likes having children, she has eleven.”, David said matter-of-factly – Alex looked utterly stunned, but Rose didn't pay that any heed. She was just as surprised by that fact as the little girl was.

“What, really, _eleven_ kids?”

“Yeah – our oldest brother's thirty, then twenty-eight, twenty-six, twenty-three, twenty-one, nineteen, eighteen and fifteen – and then, there's a _huge_ gap and Chris was born. Then me, and finally Matty. And I dunno for sure – mum never really talks about it – but I think we all have a different dad as well.”

“What're you talking about?”, Matt said, looking surprised and somewhat disgruntled in that way only young children seemed to perfect, “We don't _have_ a dad, none of us, not even our grown-up brothers-”

“Matty, sweetie,” Alex said softly, scooting closer to Matt on the chair they seemed to be adamant on sharing – her boyfriend, Rose noticed, instantly turned to her to listen, “for a baby you need a mum and a dad, so you do have a dad, even if you've never seen him.” For once in the evening, Rose was grateful for the maturity the little girl displayed: sure, the message had been stated openly and very brutally honest, but it wasn't blunt or disrespectful.

Of course, Rose already knew that the boys' fathers would be men that merely passed through miss Idris' life. She'd never seen a man around the house, save mr. Winthrop, the local minister – and he was _ancient_ so he probably didn't qualify. But she had never known how the boys themselves dealt with it. Apparently, Matt didn't know how things were – maybe simply because he was young and it was hard to explain to a child how his mother had gotten him when she was alone. Now, however, Matt seemed to faintly begin to understand, aided by his older brother and his new girlfriend. He nodded slowly, looking at his hands which lay on the table.

“...So somewhere out there walks a man that... went kissy-kissy with mum... but wait a minute, you said 'different dads', Davey, so... so mum went kissy-kissy with a _lot_ of men?” It sounded incredulous, as if the notion of his mother doing anything like that was laughable and the thought that she'd even indulged in that with more than one bloke was _just insane_. However, soon, that look got replaced by one of horror. “Does that mean we're not really brothers, Davey?!”

“'Course we're really brothers, Matty, we have the same _mum_. 'Sides, it doesn't matter to me that your dad isn't my dad or Chris' dad... what matters to me is that mum loves us, and Chris an' you love me, and I love all of you.”

“Hey, don't forget about me, I love you kids too.”, Rose said, causing David to grin broadly.

“And Rose. See, that's another thing about having no dad around – if we _had_ a dad, I mean, if mum did have someone she lived with that was your dad or my dad or something, then we wouldn't need Rose to come over whenever mum went out!” That last sentence seemed to settle things in Matt's mind: he looked at Rose with those big, almost brilliant, eyes and nodded.

“I'm glad we've got Rose, she's amazing.”

“Dads are overrated anyway.”, Alex said – then, however, she smiled that sweet smile again that Rose had labelled 'the Trouble Ahead smile' secretly and she grabbed Matty's hand once more as she spoke on: “When we get married, my dad's kind of your dad too a little-”

“What's your dad like? I mean, I only know one grown-up man, and that's mister Harkness, he's Chris' teacher, and he's always very _cheeky_ , keeps looking at mama funny-”, Matt asked instantly, getting interrupted by David in a heartbeat.

“Mister Harkness looks at _everyone '_ funny'. My teacher, miss Noble, calls him a 'lout' and some other words that mum said I shouldn't say with you in the room-”

“He sounds like a character.”, Alex said. By then, the dishes were, of course, long forgotten to everyone but Rose, who bravely soldiered on while the three children were busy discussing what the word 'lout' could possibly mean and why Chris' teacher would be one. Of course Rose knew exactly what the man was – she'd met him, herself, he'd been in sixth year when she started her first year, and she'd seen first-hand that he really didn't discriminate – boy, girl, younger or older, as long as they were interested, he was willing. It seemed like a shame, really, he _was_ handsome enough to get decent attention and not to have to resort to... well, whatever he indulged in. And, to be honest, if she hadn't met Mickey that year and started going out with him-

“Rose, what're you blushing about?”, David asked, and instantly Rose felt ashamed of the direction her thoughts had headed into.

“Oh... n-nothing...”, she said airily – that would've been the end of it if Matt didn't speak up from behind her back, his voice loud and the content of his words embarrassingly accurate.

“I think all our talk about the kissy-kissy made her think about her boyfriend, she _always_ blushes when she thinks about him.”

“Matt, you sneaky li'l... I wasn't thinking about 'kissy-kissy'!”, Rose protested, though she could feel her cheeks betray her as a blush flared up instantly. “...No, I... I was just thinking, I know mister Harkness, we went to school together for about seven years-”

“Really?”, David instantly asked, sounding surprised – and, true to his inquisitive nature, he followed it up with the question: “...So either he's younger than he looks, or Rose is older-”

“Oi, David, don't you dare finish that sentence!”, Rose said, turning to him and flicking some water at the youth: he gasped and instantly started wiping his glasses. Once he'd muttered a quick apology, Rose shook her head and added: “One of these days, you're gonna learn how to _properly_ treat a girl from me – it's no wonder Matty's more successful, he doesn't put his foot in it every other sentence-”

“Put my foot in what?”, Matty asked, and Alex giggled as she explained that it was an expression, a way of saying something. “...Oh, like a metaphor? I watched Chris studying the other day and he said something about 'metaphors' and when I asked him, he said a metaphor's like saying one thing and meaning another.”, Matty added, surprising all present. In the end, after a good ten seconds of silence, Rose chuckled and shook her head.

“Sometimes I wonder about you, Matty, and what you'll turn out to be in twenty years' time. Happily married to Alex, no doubt, with a big family of your own...”, she added when she noticed Alex give her boyfriend another kiss that got Matt to blush but not wipe it off anymore, which in turn got David to laugh. That, however, focused Rose's attention on him again, and she turned to him. “Don't you go laughin' at your little brother, he's got all your charm and none of your awkwardness.”

“Oh, _thank_ you, Rose...”, David said somewhat huffily, picking up a plate and drying it off aggressively. Rose, meanwhile, continued, giving him a look that hopefully conveyed he was too young to be moody like his older brother.

“You don't go 'round asking a girl how old she is-”

“What, you're just supposed to _guess_?”, he reacted incredulously, and Rose finally took pity on him, shaking her head.

“No, you're supposed to talk to her, ask her about herself – not her age, but the rest of her – and eventually she'll tell you. In school, it's easy, because someone in your class is your age, maybe a year older or younger, but that's not a big difference. But once you grow up and you start goin' out, havin' drinks with mates, and a lovely girl walks up to you... don't you dare ask her how old she is, or you'll get slapped in the face.”

“...Can't you write, like, an instruction manual, Rose? 'How to understand how girls think in ten steps' or something?”, David said, looking at her as though she'd spoken gibberish – Matt, once again, saved Rose the effort of figuring out an appropriate answer to the boy.

“Girls aren't _machines_ , silly, they don't need an instruction manual. Girls are... girls.”, he said, and Rose laughed softly, patting him on the head with a soap foam-covered hand.

“Yes, and boys'll always be boys...”

***

“Right, we've had dinner, we've sorted the dishes, and it's almost eight... I think it's time for Matty and Alex to go to sleep in a few!”, Rose said, instantly harvesting loud protests from the two youngest children.

“But we're not tired yet, and Alex still hasn't seen the planet of the jewel-people!”

“Oh, but my mum and dad always let me stay up until _way_ later!”

“You two can explore the planet of the jewel-people tomorrow morning again, once you've had a good night's rest – and while you're here, Alex, you go to bed at the same time as Matty, so eight thirty it is. No buts!”, she added when the two meant to start shouting protests at her again, silencing them. “You two said you'd behave-”

“But, but, does this mean Alex can sleep in my room?”, Matt asked, clearly eager for the company, and Rose nodded. “Yessssss!”

“Don't go cheerin' just yet, Matty – I expect the both of you to _behave_ or I'm picking any one of you up and locking them in your mum's room, then you can explain why you're in there to _her_ when she returns. You put your pyjamas on and you can still play a little bit in your room – _quietly_ , mind – and then I'll come tuck you in and read you a story if you want...”

“The story about the ugly ducky?”, Matt asked, and Rose smiled as she nodded. Matt loved hearing 'The Ugly Duckling' for some reason – most probably because it was a story about belonging and about growing, which the youngest son of eleven would of course be very sensitive to – and she had to admit it was one of her favourite fairy-tales as well.

“Sure, if Alex doesn't mind.”

“No, no, I like that story too. ...Can we still have a bit of juice before we have to put our pyjamas on, Rose?”, Alex asked, to which Rose rolled her eyes.

“Why do I get the feelin' I'm going to regret saying 'yeah, sure'? ...Sure you can. Matty, you want juice too?”

“Is it apple juice?”

“No, it's grape juice.”, Rose said, causing Matt to nod.

“Yes, please! ...Rose?”, he asked when Rose rose from the couch, ready to go and get the two a glass of juice: the babysitter paused and looked at her youngest charge, nodding to show he could ask the question that was clearly plaguing him. “...Davey told me grape juice is what wine is made of... is grape juice wine for children?”

“Heh, I s'pose it is...”, Rose admitted with a soft chuckle. It made sense that David would say something like that, science-minded as he was. “But wine's made of whole grapes that get squished-”

“I know, I saw it on tv, people that squish the grapes with their _bare feet_! Isn't that _icky_?”, Matt asked Rose, who chuckled again and shook her head.

“It's very tasty – those people have very healthy and very clean feet, nothing icky there.”

“ _Ugh_ , I'm never drinking wine, _ever_.”, Matty said dramatically – when Alex tugged at his sleeve and whispered something in his ear, however, he grinned and nodded before adding a little more softly: “...Except when I'm with Alex, she says it makes you all blushy and giggly and act silly.”

“She's not lyin'.”, Chris spoke up sagely, still looking at the television where another comedy show was playing. “Sometimes when mum comes home from one of her dates, she laughs loudly and she's blushin' – and she always says it's the wine, so...”

“So people on dates drink wine?”, Matt asked, and Rose nodded.

“Yeah, I s'pose they do-”

“What, you 'suppose' they do? Doesn't your boyfriend take you out on dates?”, David suddenly asked shrewdly, causing Rose to blush. Of course Mickey took her out on dates, but they were always going to the movies or going to a concert, not really having fancy dinners. Even when they went to the pub, they both had lager.

“I think they just stay inside all the time, you know...”, Chris said, grinning daringly – it was all too clear what he meant, and Rose spoke up indignantly.

“Oi, you cheeky li'l devil, don't you go thinkin'-”

“Oh, look, she's blushing now, Chris, you must be right!”, David said, picking up on what his brother meant flawlessly, causing Rose's blush to deepen and her voice to become just that little more outraged.

“You too, Davey, you and your brother are _both_ cheeky devils thinkin' that all me an' Mickey do is... _that_!”

“D'you mean...”, Matty started – before Rose could speak out, Alex already spoke to him.

“They mean Rose and her boyfriend like going kissy-kissy better than going out on dates.”

“Oh? But Rose, you're _supposed_ to go on dates, not just go kissy-kissy all the time! You should tell your boyfriend that!”, Matty said loudly; Rose didn't think it could get any worse after Davey and Chris ganged up on her, but clearly she'd been mistaken. Her colour had to resemble that of a tomato, she guessed as she put her hands on her hips and protested their childish assumptions loudly.

“I _swear_ the four of ya are the _worst li'l devils_ out there, gangin' up on me like that! _It's none of your business_ , you cheeky sods! Now the four of you be quiet before I decide I won't come here to babysit your clever little selves again!” As always, the three boys fell quiet in an instant – Alex, noticing how put off Matt seemed to be by the thought of not being minded by Rose again, kept quiet as well, though her eyes showed mirth. Still, Rose couldn't blame the two youngest for following Chris and David's lead in teasing her yet again – after all, they didn't know any better, and they hadn't really been as rude as the eldest two boys. “...Okay...”, she spoke up in the end, looking them all over sternly, her gaze passing twice over David and Chris who looked back with outright fear in their eyes. “...I'm going to the kitchen to get Matty and Alex some juice. No more talking about dates, or 'going kissy-kissy', or anything you boys aren't supposed to be talking about for at least another five years, d'you understand? Same goes for you, Alex.”

“Yes, Rose...”, Chris and David both reacted in varying tones of meekness – Matty and Alex just nodded, their eyes sparkling once again with childish joy and that hint of mischief they seemingly shared. It wasn't really a surprise that she heard the two of them snicker amongst themselves when she was just round the corner.

Once in the kitchen, she leaned against the counter for a second, mentally processing what had happened a little bit more thoroughly. The three boys and their house guest had basically assumed all she and Mickey did was snog and that was...

“...Huh...”, she mumbled as the thought hit her that it was actually surprisingly accurate. Sighing, she took out her cellphone and pressed the speed dial for Mickey, who answered on the second ring.

“ _Heyyy babe!”_

“Hello yourself, love.”, she answered with a grin, just as she always did when they talked, over the phone or face to face, before getting instantly to the matter at hand. “...Mickey, I was just thinkin', it's been _ages_ since we went out on a proper date, not jus' a movie or a pub... and I kind of wanna-”

“ _Is it 'cause of those three again? I swear, they keep pushin' you around... But okay, I s'pose it's fair enough. See ya tomorrow for lunch to talk 'bout it, okay?”_ , he said softly, and Rose laughed lightly, feeling relieved. Somehow, the boys' comments had made her feel just a little insecure – Mickey knew, of course, exactly how much she let her three favourites get away with, and he always said they kept pushing her around.

“Talk to you tomorrow, love... mmm, love ya-”

“ _Love you too, babe – now go on an' give 'em hell for me, those three... dunno what they were tellin' you but they can stop.”_ She smiled as she disconnected, quickly taking two glasses and filling them with cold grape juice from the fridge for Matty and Alex. She could already hear the four children talking when she walked back to the living room – but the subject wasn't her love life anymore, fortunately. Instead, they'd started talking about wine, and David was awing them with his knowledge yet again.

“...and the best wine comes from France, I read it in a book-”

“Why's there stuff about _wine_ in a book about _chemistry_?”, Chris asked, and Rose, just as she entered, answered the question somewhat sagely.

“Wine's all about chemistry – not the kind you find in a lab, mind, the kind you find in nature. Making alcohol from sugar...”

“Alcohol?”, Matty asked softly, and Rose nodded, handing him his juice.

“You remember how you said wine makes you 'all blushy and giggly and silly'? It's the alcohol in wine that does that.”

“Yeah, and the 'blushy, giggly, silly' is called being drunk.”, Chris said, making Matty cast him an incredulous look before looking at the grape juice he'd just drunk a big sip from.

“But... but grape juice is what wine's made from, won't it have alcohol too?”

“Wine's made from grapes, not the juice – and alcohol's the difference between grape juice and wine, so I think you're in the clear.”, David said right before Chris could make another remark – Rose quickly nodded and handed the second glass of juice to Alex.

“If you blush, or giggle, or act silly now, you've got no excuse, Matty.”, Chris reacted – Alex gave him a scathing look that emphasized the 'little girl body, grown woman's mind' vibe and challenged the preteen.

“I'll give you something to blush about, you...” She stomped over to Chris' side and whispered something into his ear, after which the ten-year-old's eyes grew large in shock and fright and he looked at her in utter fear. “ _Stop treating Matt like a_ baby, _okay_?”, the girl stated loudly, and Chris, still looking terrified, nodded helplessly, upon which Alex instantly turned sweet and innocent again, it seemed, skipping over to Matty's side again, where she nestled against him comfortably, sipping her juice once more. Still, she wasn't exactly behaving perfectly just yet, evidenced by the way her hand suddenly seemed to come to rest on Matty's knee haphazardly.

“Oi, Alex...”, Rose started, only for Matty to suddenly get up and put his glass on the coffee table, smiling broadly.

“All gone, now we should go and put our pyjamies on!” It sounded just a little _too_ enthusiastic, but when it was normally a chore to get him to go to sleep, Rose wasn't about to complain about his sudden bout of motivation.

“Okay, then, d'you wanna walk or do you want me to carry you?” For a second, Matty looked at Alex, who shrugged to show she was fine either way – which meant that she'd stopped seeing Rose as a threat to whatever she thought was going on between her and Matt.

“Carry me? I'm very tired, if I fall I might hurt myself.”, the four-year-old commented in his usual clever tone, causing Rose to give him a sceptical look that had him blush and defend himself in a hushed tone: “...Well, I _might_ fall asleep walkin' up the stairs, Rose.”

“Okay, okay...”, Rose said, smiling as she picked him up with an over-the-top groan of exertion that had Matty look alarmed for a second before he caught on she was teasing him.

“Rose, if I'm tired, would you carry me?”, David asked slyly, causing the young woman to giggle.

“Oh, David, you're too big for me to carry...” When she turned to Alex, Matt leaned into her shoulder heavily, and she could hear him poke his tongue out cheekily at his brother, who probably reacted in kind. “'Ey, you two, behave, or everyone goes straight to bed _right now_ -”

“Matty started it!”, David instantly defended, to which Rose calmly answered:

“An' I'm ending it. Now come on, Alex, if your juice is gone, let's go. David, Chris, behave while I'm tucking your little brother and ‘is new ‘girlfriend’ in, or you're gonna be very sorry!”

“We're angels, you know us.”, David said, prompting a snort of laughter from Rose.

“Heheh, well, I'll let you know when I start _believin'_ you... okay, ready, Alex?”, she reiterated when Alex resurfaced from the box holding the triceratops plushie – the girl nodded, her eyes fixed on Matty as she walked out of the living room and into the hallway in front of Rose. “…Now, you two-“, Rose started when they were halfway up the stairs, walking past the door to miss Idris’ room, but she got interrupted by Alex.

“We’ll play quietly, and we’ll behave like angels. The grape juice didn’t make us _silly_ and _blushy_ , after all.”

“Oooh, Rose, if… if Alex and I drank grape juice together, and that’s like wine for children, does that mean we just had a _date_?”, Matty asked just as Rose took the final step up to the second floor landing, causing her to falter for just a second. For toddlers, they were certainly very focused on the ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ story they’d been entertaining all evening – and the fact that they weren’t tired in the least made Rose feel a little less than relaxed about leaving them on their own.

“I think going on a date means more than just drinking grape juice or wine together, Matty.”, she answered after a second, shaking her head as she wondered how the youngest of the three boys came up with the kinds of rationalizations he did.

“Oh, what else?”

“Y’know, telling each other about your life, about your day… holding hands… doing fun stuff together-“

“So it _was_ kind of like a date.”, Alex said with a wink that was clearly aimed at Matt, who still leaned into her shoulder heavily and who chuckled softly as he caught it.

“Alex is right, Rose, we did do all the talking and the holding hands and fun stuff – and the grape juice drinking. All we didn’t do was become all giggly and blushy.”

“Yeah, but dates are what you have with the people you’re in love with-“, Rose quickly added, trying to convey to the two toddlers that their evening together hadn’t been a date – but, of course, she should have figured that saying something like that would only deepen the troublesome questions Alex and Matty would ask, inquisitive as the little boy was, something that was only made stronger by the presence of his new self-proclaimed ‘girlfriend’.

“…What’s that like, ‘being in love’?”, Matty asked.

“Now, first, your pyjamas-“, Rose protested, but – either because he knew all too well that Rose couldn’t refuse him, or because he simply refused to let the subject go as he felt that it was relevant to what he and his newest friend had been pretending all night – Matt crossed his arms the moment Rose settled him on his bed.

“No! I wanna know! Tell me while you help me put on my pyjamies!” Seeing no way out, Rose sighed and nodded, motioning for Alex to take a seat on the bed as well. Faced with two pairs of highly inquisitive eyes, she gave a soft groan before she started her explanation.

”…Bein’ in love is… well, it’s hard to describe. It’s this feelin’ you get, right, in the pit of your stomach…”, she said, absent-mindedly trying to pull Matty’s bow tie loose again, only to feel smaller hands already present there. Looking at Alex, she saw her very slowly pulling the thing loose, giving Matt a look that said ‘you’d better be enjoying this’ – and judging from the look of wonder on the young boy’s face, she needn’t worry. “…Bein’ in love feels a little like waiting for Christmas, or your birthday presents. You simply can’t do it. You want nothin’ more than to see the person you’re in love with, to spend time with them-“

“To go kissy-kissy with them…”, Matt said with a teasing grin, just as Alex pulled his bow tie loose at last – Rose gave the boy a look that she hoped made clear for him to not try her patience, and he bit his lip. “Sorry… but you must love your boyfriend an awful lot if you and him go kissy-kissy – my mum said only grown-ups who love each other very, very much do that… I meant it in a good way!”, he defended himself, and Alex nodded, very deliberately pulling the tie from underneath the collar of his shirt, making Matty blush somewhat. However, Rose didn’t feel in the mood to chastise him anymore when she’d witnessed that maybe Matty already knew just a little, tiny bit of what feeling she meant; instead, she teased him gently.

“Or to get big, wet, sloppy kisses from them even when the brothers can see it, and then secretly kiss them back – ring any bells?”

“ _Rooooose_ , how’d you know that?!”, Matt instantly said, trying to bury his head into his duvet, which was so unsuccessful and helpless that Rose instantly laughed, as did Alex.

“It wasn’t exactly like you were noticing anything apart from Alex anymore, Matty. …Anyway, it’s that tingly feeling you get, like you swallowed something that’s tickling the inside of your stomach-“

“Butterflies?”, Alex asked – when Rose, surprised that she already knew the right metaphor, nodded and gave her a look of wonder, the little girl smiled and elaborated: “…My mum and dad sometimes say, when they think I’m already sound asleep in my bed, that they’ve still got butterflies. Also, they sometimes make _weird_ noises-“

“Oh, like Rose and her boyfriend did when they-“

“ _Ooookay_ , that’s enough ‘bout _that_ , let’s get your pyjamas on now!”, Rose quickly interrupted before the toddlers started comparing her and Mickey to Alex’ parents, who hadn’t looked that much older but whose love life she didn’t really want to know about. “Matty first, and then you’re going to turn around while I help Alex get her pyjamas on-“

“Why do I have to turn ‘round?”, Matty protested, and Rose meant to say that it wasn’t proper and that Alex wouldn’t like it when the boy added: “I get the tingly feeling ‘bout her, so if I love her, and she loves me – ‘cause she says she does – then I’m going to see her with no clothes on anyway-“

“ _Matty_ , _for the love of…_ You’re only four, you’re not supposed to be thinking about that kind of thing at all!”, Rose reacted, wishing desperately her mother was there, because she was undaunted by even the most surprising of things. Her own mum would know exactly what to say to the children. Her mum would know exactly how to handle four-year-olds in love and five-year-olds acting like twenty-five-year-olds.

Or, at least, she liked to think that her mum knew, instead of thinking that she was just as hopeless.

***

“Okay, that’s Matty and Alex dressed for bed and settled in-“

“Took you long to get them settled in, Rose.”, Chris remarked, looking up from the book in his hands – Rose wasn’t surprised to find it was his mathematics book. His notes lay on the coffee table, face down, probably to avoid any more teasing. “Were they bein’ a bother?”

“No, no, just… Matty asked a slightly awkward question, and things just got a little away from me ‘fore I could get a grip on them again.”

“Ah, see, that’s Matty, awkward as they come. …Where’s Alex sleep?”, David asked, trying to sound neutral but failing miserably to keep the anxiety from his voice, causing Rose to smile.

“Matty’s room, your mum wanted it.”

“Ow, that’s gonna cause problems, what with all the kissing and the flirting and the totally-not-allowed touching Alex’s been doin’…”, Chris said, which prompted Rose to sigh as she sat down on the other end of the sofa, looking at the television screen for a second before speaking up again.

“Well, they’re four and five – if they were _fourteen_ and _fifteen,_ I’d agree with you. But they’re just pre-schoolers, they can’t… get into problems that are bigger than they are.”

“Who’ve you been babysitting these past years?!”, David said somewhat teasingly, looking at her with that know-it-all look that made her run a hand through his messy hair for a second.

“Davey, you’re a sweet boy if you want to be, but when you’re trying my patience you really haven’t got a clue. I meant the worst they’ll get up to is snuggling up in Matty’s bed for giving each other kisses on the cheek – and at this age, that’s more ‘cute and sweet’ than ‘hot and messy’-“

“ _Rose_ , _ewww_ , don’t go talking about kisses being ‘hot an’ messy’!”, David said, visibly flinching – Chris, however, chuckled and shook his head.

“David, the way you turned down Alex, you’re going to have to wait at least _twenty years_ to get kissed like that. Expect your kisses to be ‘cute an’ sweet’ for _ages_ , little brother-“

“Better those than no kisses at all, maths genius.”, David answered hotly, his cheeks flushed a somewhat noticeable red – and as soon as Chris mentally processed the insult his brother had replied with to his own first handful of mud, the eldest of the three boys blushed as well. However, Rose picked up on another sibling fight brewing and firmly spoke up next.

“Come on, the two of ya, you’re _both_ nice and handsome and smart and any girl your age’d be a fool to overlook you. And the same goes for Matty, although Alex certainly didn’t overlook him.”

“…Pfeh, their little ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ play all evening was a bit _boring_ to be honest.” Chris’ words were callous, but the tone was somewhat emotional, telling Rose he knew their affection for each other had not been make-belief for the two children, not even for a little while and not even from Matt’s part. David seemed to realise it as well, if his next words were any indication.

“…They must really like each other. Or, uh, I mean, Matty must really like Alex – the way he looked at her, the way he shared his pancakes with her, the way he held her hand all day…”

“The way he shoved her into his spaceship when he was cross with David for _weeks_ after he’d played with it…”, Christopher added when David’s voice trailed off – the middle of the three boys rolled his eyes and spoke up again, ignoring his older brother’s words very deliberately.

“…Well, and the way he basically squeezed the both of them together when they were riding that trice plushie – a whole lot more gratuitous too-close-for-comfort physical contact _there_ , if y’ask me-“

“You sound jealous, you do.”, Rose commented, chuckling when David blushed before answering.

“I’m not jealous, I just… kind of liked the attention. Not that I _miss_ it, she can stay stuck on Matty for _ages_ as far as I’m concerned. Just… kids are fickle – you know how Matty gets. Triceratops plushie today, fez yesterday, cowboy hats before that… and Alex is no better, she was _smitten_ with me for a week but one look at Matty and she didn’t even see me standin’ there anymore-“

“Are you afraid Matty’s going to get attached and then disappointed by her? Or the other way ‘round?”, Rose said, sounding nowhere near as surprised as she felt. She could understand the boy’s concern for his brother, but for the little girl that had made him so exasperated before, too? Chris, sitting next to her, looked up from his book as well, just as surprised as she felt, and finally, when faced with not one but _two_ stunned faces, David sighed and shrugged.

“No, I’m afraid they’re both makin’ promises now that they won’t be able to keep – Matty _an’_ Alex – and they’ll both think they should hang on for each other when they don’t really wanna, for themselves, you know…” He blushed a little, looking at the television set that was showing a commercial for a brand of soap while adding a soft-spoken: “…Maybe it’s nothin’, but they’re really too young to understand grown-up concepts like love, loyalty, faithfulness and-“

“And _seriousness_ – c’mon, Dave, they don’t mean whatever they’ve been sayin’ all night. When a kid’s only four years old and he talks about love, it’s _his_ kind of love – sharin’ treats and toys, a kiss on the cheek. It’s not Rose’s kind of love, with the ‘for better or for worse’ an’ the passion and _sex_ -“

“At ten, you’re not supposed to go thinkin’ about sex either, Christopher.”, Rose interrupted, and the boy grew quiet. For minutes, the only sound in the living room was the television set playing; but finally, when it became clear to Rose that David nor Chris were watching the program, she sighed and switched the television off, looking at the two boys to see barely any reaction on their features. “…What am I gonna do with you lot, then, eh? One boy that’s too smitten with me to get his studyin’ done properly, one boy that’s got his head in the clouds more than on his shoulders, one boy that managed to get himself a girlfriend that’s dead-set on wriggling her way into his life permanently, and then that little girl that is like one of my mates in the body of a five-year-old…”

“I am not ‘ _smitten_ with you’, Rose!”, Chris protested loudly, though he sighed when Rose cast him a sceptical look. “…okay, yeah, maybe you look fantastic and I'm a man-”

“Maybe in a year or ten, mate...”, Rose said, smiling generously as David chuckled, stifling the sound by nearly chewing on his knuckle. Chris, true to his sensitive teenage self, instantly narrowed his eyes and turned to her, which in turn caused her to wink at him and add: “...You'll be a fine man when you're a li'l more mature than you are now, Chris, but don't get ahead of things just yet.”

“I _know,_ I know, mum keeps telling me that too! _Just once_ it'd be nice if someone didn't treat me like a _baby –_ I don't need to be treated like I'm your age-”

“No, 'cause then you'd think you could go out with Rose-”, Dave started, ducking away when Chris swung his arm, the maths book still in his hands. However, when he nearly knocked over the empty glasses, Rose gave the eldest of the three a stern look.

“ _I didn't do anything-_ ”, Chris started indignantly, and Rose answered curtly.

“And you won't do anything, either – the _two_ of ya need to learn to stop riling each other like that. Now pack up the book, Chris, if all you're plannin' to do with it is hit glasses off the table. Dave, don't keep takin' cheap shots at your brother, it's not very nice of ya. Let's the three of us jus' watch a bit of telly, okay?”

“...Okay...”, David said meekly, settling down right by Rose's feet, and after maybe a second or two of rebellious resistance, Chris fell in line as well, putting the maths book on top of his notes and then pushing them off before leaning back into the sofa. However, after only a minute, his attention was off the television again and back with Rose, who rolled her eyes and gave him an amused look, wordlessly prompting him to speak up.

“...Why are you always so hard on me and never on Dave or Matty?”, he asked, sounding more than a little discouraged – Rose looked at Dave, who gave his brother a look that clearly spelled out 'what in heaven's name are you talking about?' before looking at her to convey how genuinely sorry he was for his brother being impossible – that, more than anything else, got the babysitter to smile and answer.

“I'm just as strict to them, Chris, love, you just _think_ I'm harder on you. It's hard bein' the oldest-”

“I _know_ that, just... when I do somethin' wrong, you look at me like I stepped in dog poo; when _they_ do _the same thing_ wrong, you look at them like 'oh well, they're just kids, I shouldn't be too rough on 'em'...” Realizing what the reason for his bad mood was – and why his grievances were, at least in part, well-founded – Rose sighed and patted his arm amically.

“Like I said, Chris, 's hard bein' the eldest of three boys. I'm maybe stricter to you, yeah, but that's only 'cause you're their example. Believe it or not.” Chris seemed to lean to the 'not' side, what with the look of incredulous surprise he gave her and then David, who looked just as stunned as he did. “...You've gotta set the right example for your little brothers – they don't have a dad to tell 'em what's right and what's wrong, so they look to _you_. You'll be the first of 'em to get any experience with girls-”

“I think Matt and Alex disagree there, Rose.”, David interrupted with a grin, but Rose shook her head.

“Not the kind of experience I meant, Dave, there's a big diff'rence between getting a kiss here an' there and havin' a real relationship with a girl. ...Anyway, you'll be the first one to date a girl, to drink a pint in a pub, to go to a party, to go to comprehensive and university, to get a job and a house and a family... if you don't do it properly, what kind of idea'll Dave and Matty have when _they_ get to your age?”, she asked, allowing a lasting silence for Chris to mentally process her words. The boy did so with a soft nod that turned more and more resolute until he finally spoke up.

“...Yeah, okay... yeah... I'm sorry 'bout not being better at this big brother stuff-”

“Heh, you're great at it, Chris, you just need to remember that you've got two sets of eyes on ya before you do somethin'. If you don't want Dave or Matty to do exactly the same when they're your age, if you want them to not make any mistakes you made, you've got to wonder if something's worth doin' before you do it at all.”, she finished sagely, and that seemed to provoke a soft laugh from David.

“What's so funny?”, Chris asked, repeating his question when David laughed a little louder after the first time he asked and adding a glare at his younger brother.

“Chris makes tons of mistakes because he's such an airhead, how's he any good as an example to me an' Matt?”

“Oh come on, Davey, you don't mean that!”, Rose instantly reacted while the two brothers made faces at each other, both too weary of their long day to start up another pillowfight or even a verbal spar. The youngest of the two poked his tongue out at his brother before looking and pointing ostensibly at the clock on the wall.

“Look, Rose, it's time for me to go sleep or I'll never be up in time for school tomorrow!” He made a final ugly face at his eldest brother and then got up from the ground, walking to the door. “'Sides, you have to see if Matt's behaving, what with Alex in his room-”

“Your little brother's behaving, I'm sure – the two of you, on the other hand, you're terrible, pickin' on each other like that! The both of ya, you should be ashamed!” Chris adopted a look of genuine remorse in a second, but David persisted until Rose gave him another stern look, at which moment he fell in line with a short, indignant huff. “...David, you can go up to your room and put on your pyjamas already, I don't have to help you.”

“Alright, Rose...”, he said with a deep sigh, as if she was asking him to move the Earth itself slightly to the left, slowly stomping up the stairs to show his discontent – but Rose was more focused on the eldest of the three boys. “...Chris, you know you've still got half an hour, put the book in your book bag already an' then you can watch a little bit of that movie with me, okay?” Then, as if adding it only as an afterthought, she turned around at the door to address the boy again: “...And Dave didn't really mean it when he said you're an airhead that does a lot wrong-”

“I know.”, Chris admitted with a soft, secretive grin that made him look a lot more like the man he'd rapidly become in the future and less like the child he still was, “...Last week, he had to write an essay on 'role models' and I snuck a look when he was goin' to the loo – and I saw he chose _me_ as the subject – not mum or any of our older brothers, but me. He wouldn't do that if he really thought I was just 'an airhead', right?”

“You boys...”, Rose said, shaking her head. The three of them were constantly warring amongst each other, play-fighting or actually fighting for attention and treats and anything else that they could possibly argue about – but when it came down to it, the three boys were as tightly knit as brothers could ever be.

***

“Alright, you two, playtime's over, time for sleep!”, Rose said as she entered Matty's room once she got up the stairs. The chaos in the room was still absolute, but the two children sat on the mattress, Matty's bow-tie in their hands and the lightest blush on their face. It looked odd any way Rose considered it – after all, what kind of game would consist of the two of them _holding something_? - but then Matty smiled and waddled up to her.

“Rose, Rose, we were just going to have a party!”

“A party?”, she said, and Matt as well as Alex nodded suspiciously simultaneous.

“Yes, with Tricey an' Mister Kittens, and everyone!”, he said, indicating the two stuffed animals that sat on his bed together with a plethora of stick-figures drawn on sheets of paper. “Alex wanted her entire family and I wanted everyone, too – Sylvester, Paul, David, John, Chris, mum, miss Clara... but I hadn't drawn you yet, but that's okay, because you're here for real!”

“...And what are we going to celebrate?”, she asked somewhat hesitantly – after all, the children should be getting under their covers and ready for bed, but she figured it'd be almost impossible to get them to cooperate in the effort unless she played along just for a minute.

“Well, Alex and I got married-”

“You did?”, she asked, a little surprised. Alex sighed dramatically before nodding, pushing Matt gently to get him to do the explaining, which the four-year-old did in a tone that showed clearly how her confusion amused him.

“Yes – I saw it on tv, in a movie! It's with a ribbon, and then normally Alex' mum and dad had to say 'I consent and gladly give' and my mum and dad had to do that too, but her parents and my mum aren't here and I don't have a dad, so we kind of did without-”

“That's cheatin', Matty – you saw it in the movie, your mums and dads have to, uh, 'consent and gladly give'.”, Rose started, but the two children shook their heads and spoke very emphatically.

“I don't care, Matty and I are married, and now we're having a party.”

“Alex is right, it doesn't matter, we _are_ married now. ...Won't you join our party, it has all kinds of sweets! And the main course is banana-”

“Just banana?”, Rose asked, and Alex snickered softly before winking at Matt.

“Well, just banana _is_ a bit silly for a main course.” The boy didn't really seem to agree with Rose and Alex, so before the two 'newlyweds' could start arguing – or worse, before Alex thought she had to make up with him – Rose quickly pointed at the bed.

“Alright, the two of ya, time to go to sleep now. You get a story, and then it's lights out and on to Snoozy Acres in Dreamland!” Both children giggled – Rose had to admit it was a very corny-sounding exhortation for the two to go to sleep, so she giggled along with them – and miraculously didn't protest, instead getting settled under the covers with little to no effort from her at all. “...Still want the story about the Ugly Duckling?” Rose expected an unanimous 'yes', but that's where the two surprised her.

“Noooo, you have to tell us a _new_ story! A whole _new_ one!”, Matty said, and Alex laughed lightly.

“Yes, a new story, Rose, please.” For a second, Rose lost her mental footing; then, however, she licked her lips and nodded, finding their request not an obstacle but rather a challenge to get the two of them more than an amusing bedtime story.

“Okay then... Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a little prince that wanted nothing more than to marry the little princess of the land across the big, wide sea. But he couldn't swim, and she couldn't swim, and they were too little to take a boat so they were stuck looking at the big, wide sea, trying to catch a glimps of the land on the other side-”

“I don't like this story, it's a sad one...”, Matt said, though he spoke in a hushed voice and his hands clutched the bedsheets tightly in suspense, telling Rose he wouldn't dare ask for another story now that she'd started.

“...Anyway, one day the little prince got a visit from a big wizard, almost _seven foot tall_ and with a tail like a lizard.”

“Was he, like, a lizard-wizard?”, Matty asked – Rose meant to agree just at the moment when Alex spoke up as well.

“He's a wizard-lizard, Matty!”

“So the wizard-lizard said to the little prince that he had a little boat that could sail itself, even in the worst storms, right to the land across the big, wide sea. So he could see his princess again at last. The little prince loved her very, very, _very_ much-”

“As much as I love Alex?”, Matty asked, and Rose chuckled.

“ _Even more_.”

“Impossible!”, the four-year-old muttered, shaking his head but allowing Rose to continue the story.

“So the little prince loved the little princess very very much, and he decided to risk it. His mum, the queen, didn't like her little prince sailing away in the wizard-lizard's ship, and she went to talk to her son the night before he sailed away. 'Please', she said, crying, 'please, little prince of mine, don't go, if you die I'll be sad for the rest of my life!' - but the little prince told her, 'mama, I have two brothers that are both bigger and better princes than I am, they'll comfort you if something happens, and they'll do all the princely stuff a lot better than I do'.”

“And he sailed away?”, Alex asked eagerly, and Rose nodded.

“And he sailed away. The queen watched the boat sail further and further away until it disappeared, and then she hired the wizard-lizard to make her a big looking-glass so she could see the ship even as far away as it'd gone: he did it, but he warned her, and he said that it was a magical looking-glass so that she had to be careful. One night, as she was crying when she looked through the looking-glass, she saw storms hit the ship and the little prince was struggling – and she remembered what the wizard-lizard had said. When she smiled again, the storm calmed down and the prince sailed on faster. When she was angry with someone one night and she looked, pirates attacked the ship and capture the little prince – and again she remembered what the wizard-lizard had said and she started cheering for her little son, who then fought the pirates and won. In the end, she saw the little prince reach the land across the big, wide sea and she smiled when he did – and she saw that the little princess became even more pretty and lovely. When she saw her little son happy, the queen knew that he had had to go away – and to her surprise, when she looked again, missing her son so very much, she saw him turn around and wave. And from then on, even though the little prince was far away, whenever she looked into the magical looking-glass as she missed him, he always turned around and waved.” When the two children looked at her expectingly, she grinned and added on the superfluous: “The end.”

“Owww nooooo, more story!”, Matt protested, but his new 'girlfriend' – or rather, she had to say 'his pretend wife', since they seemed to think they'd played out their marriage already – admonished him with an authorative look.

“Matty, Rose 's right, we should sleep now, so we'll be ready and rested tomorrow morning. ...We'll be good and go right to sleep now, Rose.”, she added, and Rose nodded, smiling.

“Why thank you, Alex! Matty, you should follow Alex' example and go to sleep now. You've got a whole new and exciting day ahead of you tomorrow-”

“Oh, yes, we have to tell miss Clara that we're married now!”, Matt said – Rose held back an amused chuckle, but only barely, as she nodded and pushed the sheets neatly around the little boy's form. “G'night, Rose... s-see you again soon, I hope-”

“Hope so too, Matty, and to you too, Alex. Goodnight, sleep tight... remember, eyes closed until it's light out, and no nightmares on my watch.”, she said in a mock tone of austerity, causing both children to giggle and then yawn loudly, which was the sign she'd been waiting for to head to the door, switching the lights off right before she closed the door. She briskly headed to David's room, finding the boy reading a book in bed, his clothes thrown semi-orderly over a chair. “Oi, Davey, I'm not going to straighten your clothes for you every time I babysit ya...”, she said – though the fact that she was nonetheless folding his shirt as she spoke was telling enough of how true her words were. “Now, do _you_ want a bedtime story as well?”, she teased, and David chuckled before putting his book away and taking off his glasses to lay them on top of it.

“Nah, 'm good... but I will let you tuck me in a little better-”

“Yeah, and get a kiss goodnight too, huh?”, Rose said jokingly, rolling her eyes when the boy chuckled again. She pressed the covers tightly around his form before brushing his unruly hair away from his forehead and pressing a light kiss there. “Goodnight, David, sleep tight. You know the drill-”

“Do I ever!”, he said, grinning. She'd always told the boys the same before sleep, and Chris and David knew it by heart by now. “'Eyes closed until it's light outside and no nightmares' – cross my heart and hope to die, Rose, _I_ know how to behave.”

“I'll never believe that, Davey, but I love ya all the same.”, Rose admitted as she walked back to the door, halting only to switch off the lights. As she walked down the stairs, Rose mused that the two youngest were both charming in their own way. Matty had his age going for him, and all the sweetness that seemed to be part and parcel of being basically harmless and helpless; David had a natural charm and the kindest disposition, as well as that aloofness that made anyone laugh mildly at his misfortunate adventures at times. Chris had a lot of that as well – especially the charm – but he was becoming awkward and somewhat grumpy like any teenager, which took away from the picture. “...Oh, what's it matter? They're all sweet an' charming, and they're all my boys.”, she whispered softly to herself before heading back to the living room to watch at least a little bit of the movie she'd told Chris he could start on.

***

“...Okay, maybe watching this movie wasn't a good idea...”, Rose said as the man on the screen paused running just long enough to gasp for breath and stammer out something about aliens and having to reach his ship. “Chris, won't you have nightmares?”

“N-no...”, Chris stammered, sounding every bit as worried as the hesitant as the man on screen was, which was surprising considering there were no aliens or exploding bombs in the house around them – and, Rose added, sounding like he already _was_ in the middle of a nightmare. His voice even rose to a squeak as the next scene unfolded and the aliens turned out to already be inside the ship. “I'm fiiiiine-”

“Yeah, righ', Chris, you're scared half witless... I'm puttin' this movie off right now-”

“No, noooo-”, Chris protested while Rose took the remote control and switched it off, but the moment silence surrounded the two of them again, he still breathed a sigh of relief despite himself.

“There we go – it's nearly time for you to head on to bed, anyway, Chris. ...So, tell me about this maths test you're getting tomorrow...”, she said, and he sighed.

“ _Equations_. You know the thing: there's a number of apples in a basket, and John has five apples more than Jim, who has one third of the apples in the basket, so how many apples do they both have, and how many were in the basket to begin with? We used to just calculate it, but now we have to write it down with X and Y and it _doesn't make any_ sense.” The mere mention of it made Rose wince, remembering all too well the kind of mathematics he was talking about.

“Ow, maths were never my best subject in school, Chris, I feel your pain... But it's okay to ask David to explain one or two things to you, he's better at sciences than you are-”

“Yeah, but he's my _little brother_. I can't go askin' _him_ for help!”, Chris protested, prompting a sigh from Rose.

“He may be your _little_ brother, but he could be a _big_ help to ya, Chris... but okay, if you're sure... and your mum?”

“She doesn't have a lot of time. Plus she's rubbish at maths too. ...I s'pose, if I really can't find anyone else to help me, I _could_ ask David to help me out a little bit...”, he finally admitted – Rose knew, just by the look on his face, that he'd mentally summed up everyone that could possibly help and came up with a very _empty_ list, which drove her to take pity on him.

“...Oh okay, maybe I can push it into your head... let's see... so you have a basket of apples...”, she said slowly, drawing what hopefully looked like the basket in the problem, “...and you have two guys, John and Jim...” Two stick-figures joined the basket; when Chris snickered, Rose lifted the pen from the paper ostensibly and gave him a look that had him nod, instantly serious and focused on the problem again. “And you need to use X and Y... then you use Y for the basket and X for the number of apples Jim has. The problem says that John has five apples more than Jim does, so if Jim has X amount of apples, then John has...”

“Five plus X, I know that much...”, Chris said, looking at the piece of paper, glaring at it as though it was the cause of all the evils in the world, prompting Rose to smile encouragingly – and somewhat sympathetically – at the boy before speaking on.

“Okay, now we get to the equations. There's two equations you can write down... Y equals X plus X plus five...”, she said while writing down the symbols underneath her drawing, “...and Y equals X times three – because Jim had one third of all the apples in the basket.” The second equation joined the first one, and Rose then put a big accolade in front of them. “Now you combine these two-”

“Why d'you have to combine them?”, Chris asked, and Rose smiled.

“Now I know what confuses ya – you see two symbols and you have no idea how to get _both_ of them, right?” When Chris nodded, she patted him on the shoulder, pulling him a little closer for a second. “That's the beauty of it – you don't have to get both of them at the same time. You need to find one of them at a time – first, we go lookin' for what number's hiding behind that X, and then we'll find the number behind Y in a heartbeat, okay? ...So, you combine these two equations so that there's no more Y in them, and you get that X plus X plus five equals three times X. Now you want to get all the X's to the same side and all the numbers to the other side of the equals sign. Like so...”, she said before starting on the problem in earnest. “You can add the same calculation on both sides of the sign... and you choose the ones that get rid of the numbers on this side. Like minus X on either side, and then again... and then you get that five equals three times X minus X minus X-”

“Ooh, and then you can write three times X as X plus X plus X, and then... heh, then you get five equals X!”, Chris said rapidly, grinning increasingly more broadly as he spoke – something which Rose did as well, nodding in approval.

“Right, very right. And then all you still have to do is get Y, either by addin' how much apples they both have together, or by filling in X in one of the equations. But trust me, you'll always wanna fill in the X in one of the equations, that way you won't make any mistakes.”, she added, winking at the eldest of the three boys she was minding somewhat conspiringly. “Learn from my mistakes, Chris, don't ya go thinkin' you can do it already. Now, I can't guarantee you'll pass the test perfectly, but you'll hopefully not stuff up as badly anymore.”, she said, but Chris shook his head.

“I'm gonna get top marks now, mark my words – you're brilliant, Rose, just fantastic. Maybe you can help me with my homework more...”

“Well, I'd love that, but then Matty and Davey will get jealous of all the attention you're getting. Not to worry, though, I'm sure we can work somethin' out with them. And I'll have a little chat with your mum 'bout it, too, because you could use a little bit of help. ...Now, though, what you need is sleep – it's already quarter past nine and you're still not in your bed, so go on, upstairs.” Chris didn't protest, instead putting the sheet of paper almost reverently on top of his maths coursebook before heading on to his room, still grinning. Rose sighed, stretching – but her rest was short-lived, because Chris came back downstairs just as quickly as he'd headed up to his room.

“...Rose, can I still ask you something?”

“ _Chris_ , you know you're supposed to already be in bed now-”, the babysitter started, giving him a look that would normally inspire obedience in him, but this time he shook his head.

“I know, an' I'm tired, but this is _important_. Could you... I mean, when you were my age, what kind of boys did _you_ like?”, he asked, blushing lightly – Rose knew better than to ask him what was the matter, able to guess well enough why he asked his question.

“Rozlyn?”, she queried softly, prompting him to shake his head.

“Well, uh, no, that was just a... just to get Dave thinking it was your name I was drawing on those hearts. But there's a new girl in my Saturday book group, she's from David's class... and her name's Rose, too. It wasn't _your_ name I was drawing over my maths notes, you see, but hers – sorry, it's just... with Davey havin' this soft spot for you and all, it was a handy excuse. And, well, I can't let Davey know I like a girl from his class, or he'd _tell her_ or something.” Feigning sharing his concern – which was a better strategy than showing that his worries were unnecessary – she allowed him to speak on with a nod of her head. “...She lives at one of the big estates right outside of town-”

“Heh, I grew up there too... So, you're wondering what kind of boy she'd like?”, she asked again, smiling when Chris nodded eagerly. “Well, that's easy. Eight-year-old girls like boys that hold their hands and go for bike rides with 'em, and buy them ice cream cones in the summer. They like bein' silly with them, and they like doing fun stuff together. ...Just be yourself, Chris, she'll like ya just the way you are.”

“Yeah, but what am I s'posed to... how am I supposed to _talk_ to her? I mean, I barely see her at school, an' David's always around there, too – and I _don't_ want _him_ knowing – so the only chance I've got is at my book group, but I never know how-”

“Wait, wait...”, Rose interrupted, trying to process what the boy was telling her. When he fell silent, she managed to think of the options he was faced with. “...So either you talk to 'er at school, where there's a chance David finds out, or you talk to her at your reading group, right?” His vigorous nod prompted her to pat his shoulder yet again encouragingly and soothingly, sensing the nervous energy in him. “...Well, maybe that's more than enough options. ...How do you go to the book group?”

“It's in the community centre, that's not that far away, maybe two blocks away from school. Mum used to drive me, but she figures I'll have to go to comprehensive school on my own an' so I can go by bicycle.” At first, Chris had seemed nonplussed by her question, but by the end of his answer, he apparently realized why she'd asked and he grinned as he added: “...An' she comes by bus when it's cold and by bike if it's hot, so she can save the bus fare for a soda.”

“...How far away from here is the estate she lives on? An' would your mum be okay with you taking a detour home?”, Rose asked next, smiling when Chris' shoulders slumped. “You don't know if your mum is gonna say 'no' straight away, Chris, so it pays to ask. Who knows, when you tell your mum 'there's this girl that I like', she'll even offer to drive the both of you over to Rose's home just so the two of you can talk.”

“...Yeah, right... mum's always cutting my allowance-”

“Because you and those two brothers of yours are always up to mischief – and don't go denyin' it, I know better than anyone just how devilishly clever you three are-”

“And just how much we get away with because we're just too charming?”, Chris added with a soft smile, causing Rose to roll her eyes.

“Oi, Chris, charm only takes ya so far, love, don't go pushin' it...” As she meant to speak further, Chris suppressed a yawn, however, pointing again to the fact that it was already past his bedtime and causing her to remember her duties. “Okay, you're going to bed-”

“But, Rose-”, he said, obviously still feeling less-than-sure about the situation with the girl, and Rose sighed again.

“Okay, okay, If you keep your voice down, I'll help you with your girl trouble... but no longer than ten more minutes, and then it's lights out for you!”

“Ah, _thanks_ , Rose, you're the best...”, Chris admitted meekly, trudging back up the stairs with Rose following him a few steps behind. The hallway was quiet and dark – which was just as well, because she could check whether there was any light on in one of the other rooms, indicating someone with a tenacious desire for a scolding – and when she put on the lights in Chris' room, she had to close her eyes for a second to adjust to the sudden brightness. “...Oh, Chris, haven't you ever heard of tidyin' up?”, she added when she looked around his room, the state of it so messy it was instantly explained why the boy had had to study downstairs. Blushing, he defended himself in a hushed voice.

“...I was gonna tidy tomorrow, Rose, mum was okay with that!”

“Okay, yeah, I s'pose you had different things to focus on today – better make sure that maths test is great, though, wouldn't want your mum to start thinkin' maths is a lost cause for you, otherwise she'll have you tidy your room next time you try an' get excused from tidying in favour of a maths test.”, Rose said teasingly, watching in amusement as Chris looked genuinely put off by the idea. “...Now...”, she said, turning open the bed to prompt the boy to lay down in it; he did get into the bed but didn't lay down yet, however, remaining seated and looking at her, his glance prompting her to continue her explanation. “...if your mum says it's okay for you to see her home, you just walk or bike or go by bus along with her and you just talk. If you don't know what to talk about, start talkin' books – I mean, you both like those, otherwise you wouldn't be in that book group together, right?”

“Right!”, Chris said enthusiastically though his voice didn't rise above a whisper.

“...And after that, you can ask her about herself, y'know, what kind of things she likes to watch on the telly, what subjects she likes at school, what she wants to be later... if she's got a boyfriend...”, she tacked on teasingly, causing an instant and somewhat powerful blush to erupt on Chris' face.

“I thought for the longest time she fancied David until last week. Y'know that girl that Alex wrestled for lookin' at David funny?”

“Oh my god, that was her, wasn't it?”, Rose asked softly, and Chris nodded.

“Well, at least one good thing came out of that fight – Rose said _loudly_ that she didn't even fancy David. Just about everyone in the school heard _that_ bit, includin' me.”

“Well, good for you! ...So, anyway, if your mum isn't okay with you going with this girl to see her home, then you could always buy her a soda an' offer it to her next time it's a sunny, warm day – or buy her some chocolates or somethin'. You know, just... do nice things for her, get her to _notice_ you. You-”

“Rose?” The voice in the doorway prompted both the girl and Chris to look and see David standing in the doorway; instantly, the eldest of the two spoke in a hushed but irate whisper.

“David, are you _eavesdroppin'?!_ ”

“No... no, I came to ask Rose to sto- _ooohhh_ -”, he said, halting mid-word to yawn loudly before picking up again from the start of the sentence, clearly half asleep: “...Came to ask Rose to put a stop to it-”

“Oh, Davey, did me an' Chris talkin' wake you up? It's okay, we were just done talking, right, Chris?”, she said, and Chris nodded, still blushing slightly at the notion of David having overheard him talking about the girl from his class; however, David shook his head and, after another jaw-chrunching yawn, he explained further.

“N-no, it's Matt an' Alex, they're _constantly giggling_ an' their room's right next to mine, couldn't you-”

“Oh, those two _little devils!_ I told 'em to go to sleep, I should've known...!”, Rose said, instantly firing up, not as much angry at the children as apprehensive about what could keep them occupied past their usual bedtime. “...No worries, I'll set 'em straight for ya, Davey...”, she added a little more calmly and quietly as she got up from the foot-end of Chris' bed and walked as silently as she could over to the door to Matt's room, opening it after a deep breath. “Okay, what d'you think-”, she started, but Alex and Matt's startled yelps and the two of them diving away behind the bed startled her. Had they... They hadn't, right? “ _Explain_ , an' _fast,_ or I'm draggin' the both of ya apart.”, she said emphatically, and Matt's head appeared from behind the bed, looking even more dishevelled than he had looked when she'd put the two youngest children to bed.

“W-we were just... Alex was talkin' about her mum and dad a-and... we just wanted to try-”

“Try what?”, Rose asked sharply – Matt and Alex now both emerged from behind the bed, blushing so deeply they might as well have swallowed coals, and any answer they possibly wanted to give was drowned out in Rose's loud exclamation. “ _MATTHEW ROBERT SMITH! You are the worst... the absolute worst! Put that back on this instant, and better pray that your mum's not gonna keep Alex and you apart for the rest of your long, long lives!! And you, Alex, you are coming with me, you can sleep on the living room couch until Matty's mum's back home!”_

...Had Rose been wishing for her mum's expertise only an hour or so before, now she was glad that she wasn't present, because Jackie Tyler would've laughed until she cracked at the sides about the predicament she was in now.

***

“Rose? Rose, I'm home again, dear!” After all the turbulence of the day, hearing miss Idris' voice again was like a godsend. Quietly, so as to not disturb the little girl sleeping right next to her, Rose tiptoed into the hallway, finding the mother of the three boys that had put her through hell and hailstorms shaking her umbrella dry. “Did they behave?”

“...Well...”, Rose started, causing the older woman to roll her eyes.

“Oh, I see, my perfect angels were perfect again. Who was it this time? Chris again? If he keeps actin' up, he won't have any allowance _left_.”

“No, apart from a few small fights with David, Chris was a model boy. And David wasn't too bad either. ...No, I'm afraid this time, Matty managed to turn things topsy-turvy.”

“ _Matty?_ Rose, are you... I mean, Matt's perfectly sweet and not at all as mischievous as the other two – a little _clumsy_ and _helpless_ , maybe, yes, but...”

“Oh, I didn't say it was entirely his doin', miss Idris... but it's sorta... complicated.”

“Well, then start from the beginning, Rose!”, miss Idris said, kicking off her shoes and walking into the kitchen. “...And tell me, did they behave with our little house guest?”

“Like I said, long story.”, Rose admitted as she walked into the kitchen, finding her employer pouring herself a glass of wine before demonstratively holding out the bottle to her, something that went answered with a nod and a grateful sigh. “...The boys were perfectly well-behaved during the afternoon. Chris studied for his maths test – or, well, he tried to study at the very least, he didn't seem to get the material absorbed into his brain – David was tinkering with someone's phone-”

“Oh, yes, kind donation from someone of my Tuesday dance lessons. David's picked it apart about three times already, he's getting so much quicker at reassembling it. More or less.”, Idris commented before looking at Rose again with that wordless prompt to action.

“...Yeah, and Matty was eating icecream and watching the dinosaurs on screen – got icecream all over his T-shirt and asked me to put a new one on him. He wanted the blue shirt with the bow tie for some reason-” Idris' soft snicker drew Rose out of her momentary focus on the events of that evening to look at the older woman.

“Oh, no, no, dear, I wasn't... It's just that I've been telling Matt how important it is to dress nicely if we're having visitors over – I just didn't think he got the message. Do go on.”

“So the boys were behavin' as usual – and then the doorbell rang. Mister and misses Williams came to bring their daughter – misses Williams insisted on warning me _three times_ that her daughter could be troublesome and she weren't lyin'. Turns out David and Chris knew her because of last week's visit of the preschoolers to their classes.”

“Oh, yes, Chris told me about that. Said one of the girls had grown attached to David. I thought it was rather cute. ...Oh, let me guess, Matty got jealous of the attention and caused you trouble – our paediatrician said that might happen somehow-”, Idris theorized, but Rose shook her head.

“Oh, no, far from it. She was hung up on Davey alright, but then she took _one look_ at Matty and David was the last thing on her mind. Walked over to the poor boy and kissed 'im smack on the lips. Matty didn't even know where to _hide_. ...Well, he had his makebelief spaceship out-”

“Oh, yes, that – he is very fond of that thing. ...So little Alex took a liking to Matty?”

“Yes, and at first Matty was just about running away from her – what with the kiss, and the teasing, and the _bottom-pinching-_ ” Rose halted for a second because Idris nearly inhaled her wine as she snorted with laughter, probably making mental images that were very accurate. “...Yeah, li'l Alex reminded me a bit of my mate, Shareen, who's always after guys. ...Anyway, at first, Matty looked like he wanted to be as far away from Alex as possible, but then, after I had a nice talk with the both of them about it – where I let Matty tell Alex how all the unwanted attention made him feel... Well, after that, Alex apologised and Matty warmed up to her, to the point where they started pretending they were time-and-space-travelling adventuring _boyfriend and girlfriend_. Hand-holding and all. Oh, and Alex and he went to the bathroom together for a potty break, _runnin' off without me_ , and Matt used the toilet.”

“He _used the toilet?_ ”, Idris commented, sounding just as surprised as Rose had felt, causing the young woman to nod.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”

“We might need to have Alex over some more then!”

“Oh, believe me, you might not think so anymore by the time I'm done talkin'... Anyway, then, we ate pancakes-”

“...And yet my kitchen's spotless.”, Idris remarked, causing Rose to grin proudly.

“I had help from David when I washed the dishes, and Matt and Alex enjoyed playing house for a second and they cleaned the table. ...So after the pancakes and the dish-washing, it was time for Alex and Matty to go to sleep – which they did without protests. That should've clued me in already, come to think of it. ...I helped them change, I talked a little to them – they asked 'what does it feel like to be in love?' because, of course, the three of them wouldn't give me a rest.”

“Were they on about it again, hmm?”, Idris asked, and Rose nodded as she sipped her wine.

“...Well, they're _boys_ and they're _inquisitive_ , so yeah, they managed to bring me an' Mickey up a fair few times... but I'm not bothered, it's _good_ that they ask those kinds of things! They need to learn about relationships. ...Oh, speakin' of relationships, fair word of warning, the subject of dads came up after we ate the pancakes and David told Matty that he and his brothers might not share the same dad. After which he added, in the same sentence, that that doesn't matter and that it shouldn't matter to anyone. Still, might want to have a talk to him.” Idris nodded solemnly – it was evident that she had wanted to postpone that conversation – and then, more to make the woman feel a little less uneasy than out of the desire to continue her story, Rose proceeded: “So I put Matty and Alex in their pyjamas, told them they could still play for half an hour until I came upstairs to put David to bed... then I put David to bed after reading Matt and Alex their bedtime story and tellin' them they should go to sleep. ...And, well, after helping Chris with his homework, talking to him about how both his brothers look up to him, and offering a little wisdom about a little problem he's havin' – which reminds me, he'll wanna have a talk to you some time tomorrow about his Saturday book group.”

“...Oh, finally.”, Idris said – that startled Rose out of her train of thoughts once again.

“You know about it?”

“Heh, yes – for one, it's hard to miss those longing looks your son keeps casting one girl in particular, plus it's someone from Davey's class and David told me that Chris is hung up on the girl _weeks_ ago, I'm surprised it took him this long to vent it to _someone_.”

“...Huh, all Chris was on about earlier was that he didn't want Davey to know – and he _knows already_... Oh well, I s'pose that'll make it easier for Chris to have a word with you about whether he's allowed to walk her home one day.”, Rose said slowly, and Idris smiled warmly.

“I'll have a word with Chris about it – he _is_ ten and he'll be going to comprehensive in a little under a year, so he could... Anyway, back to the matter at hand at the moment. Matty and Alex?”, she queried, and Rose nodded, focusing back on the two toddlers.

“...Yeah. So I was talking to Chris 'bout this girl while he was laying down for the night, when suddenly, David walks to the door all bleary-eyed, sayin' how he can't sleep because Matty and Alex keep giggling. So I thought they were still playing and I went to break it up an' tell them to go to sleep before I'd have Alex sleep in your room for the night. They'd grown very attached to each other during the day, see, to the point where Alex gave Matt these big, sloppy kisses on his cheek and the li'l angel gave them right back. Again, should've clued me in already, maybe. ...So, anyway, I go to Matty's room and the two sneaky li'l devils _dove behind the bed_.”

“What, they hadn't been playing?”, Idris asked, looking surprised; Rose, remembering the situation painfully clearly, blushed softly and shook her head.

“Oh, they'd been playin' alright. ...They'd been playing doctor, both of 'em, and they were _stark naked_ , the both of 'em.” For a second, the kitchen was quiet, and then Idris' laughter filled the room.

“...Oh my, Matt's cleary a very _forward_ boy...”

“I'd been tellin' Chris and David all evening how it was essentially harmless, those two-”

“And it was, Rose, dear. Oh, you poor darling, you had no idea how to react, did you?”

“Well, _I_ certainly was older 'n Matty and Alex when I started becoming curious 'bout that kind of thing.”, Rose admitted, and Idris nodded.

“I gathered as much. But personally, I don't really think it's necessarily a bad thing that they were, shall we say, pre-exploring. I mean, I've always told the boys very openly and honestly about where babies come from, or about their fathers and why they aren't around... Matty never asked about the latter, but he already knows the former-”

“Oh, believe me, that means he knew _exactly what he was doin'_.”, Rose said, rolling her eyes. “And I'm thinkin' Alex knew as well, the way she was talking 'bout her mum and dad... Oh, well, I guess I maybe overreacted. Still, you'd expect to find a couple of teenagers in that position, not... not two children of four and five...”

“...Should I expect to find a little girl sleeping in my bed?”, Idris asked slightly mirthfully, and Rose sighed.

“She's on the couch in the living room. Matty cried 'bout it for a good two minutes 'fore David and Chris both told him to go back to sleep, an' that he brought it on 'imself. After that, I think he did go to sleep.”

“Well, since they're asleep now, they can do that in the same room – it's not like they'll misbehave in their sleep. ...It's okay, if they do anything else that's untoward, _I_ 'll explain to mister and misses Williams in the morning. They're supposed to be my responsibility, Rose, dear, not yours, so it's okay. Go get Alex an' carry her upstairs, then I'll pay you and you can finally head on home.” She wasn't fully convinced of the validity of that phrase, but still, Rose nodded and moved back to the living room, where she softly shook Alex' shoulder until the girl opened one eye.

“'s It morning already?”, she mumbled, causing Rose to shake her head.

“You can go back up, miss Idris's back an' she said you can sleep in Matty's room – _sleep_ , y'hear?”, she added on, getting only a mumbled 'mmhmm' for an answer. As she picked the girl up from the sofa, Alex' arms and legs instantly grabbed hold of her torso and her head rested on Rose's shoulder, after which the girl seemed to fall asleep again. Slowly, Rose wound her way up to Matty's room again, opening the door quietly and winding her way slowly through the dark – if she turned on the light, she'd probably wake either of the two small children up, and that wasn't something she wanted. However, just as she'd deposited Alex back on her mattress and had tucked her in, the girl apparently not waking up for any of those actions, the bed creaked and she looked to see Matty turned to her.

“...Thanks, Rose...”, he mumbled – it was spoken so softly that she almost mistook it for a figment of her imagination, but the way he smiled afterwards was telltale. Looking at the two of them, asleep on different ends of the room but facing each other, smiling gratefully, they looked once again like the perfectly sweet and adorable little children they were, not like miniature guilty teenagers like they'd seemed before. Quietly, Rose left the room, closing the door and listening for a few seconds just to make sure they hadn't been biding their time in order to get up to more mischief, but then she sighed and headed down the stairs, where Idris was waiting for her with a knowing look in her eyes.

“...One day, you'll have children of your own, Rose, and then you'll understand why I don't make a big deal out of Matty and Alex and their infatuation with each other. ...Okay, I think I owe you ten pounds per hour-”

“Five per hour, miss Idris-”, Rose started, but the woman waved her protest away with a simple hand gesture.

“I told you I'd pay you double to mind Alex as well, and by the sound of how the day went you deserve that money down to the last penny. So, ten pounds per hour, for eight hours... no, make that nine, I left at three o'clock, not half past three... Okay, that makes it an even ninety pounds!”

“N-no, I can't... that's... that's way too much for just mindin' the boys for those hours-”

“Oh, but Rose...”, Idris said, halting with the ten pound notes in one hand, putting the empty hand on her shoulder to give a short but gentle squeeze, “...you did a lot more than just mind them. From the sound of it, you gave Chris relationship advice with his first heartache _plus_ you lectured him on the importance of being a good example to David and Matty, you taught Matt and Alex about properness and what things children shouldn't do, you managed to get David to help do the dishes – which, by the way, _I_ have _never_ managed – and you took excellent care of them in between. ...There's a reason why I let you babysit my three little heartbreakers, Rose, and not anyone else...”, she admitted.

“Why's that? I mean, I'm nothin' special, just a girl between jobs doin' babysitting to tide herself over-”

“You're a young woman with an incredible natural talent at understanding children's minds, Rose – I'll bet, if the circumstances had been different, you would've gone on to be an excellent teacher. ...And it's not yet too late, you know...”, she added, causing Rose to smile and finally relent.

“...I don't believe a word of it all but if you wanna get rid of ninety quid that badly, miss Idris, then I'll happily take it.”

***

“Oh, Rose, darlin', what's this? Mail for you?” It had been three days since Rose had had to babysit the three boys and their houseguest-for-the-night – and though she'd brought the ninety pounds to the bank first thing in the morning the next day, she hadn't been able to put aside the thought of the three boys and the impact on them that her employer said she had. She'd told the story to Mickey, who had laughed loudly when she arrived to the part where the two pre-schoolers had decided to 'play doctor', and her mother, who had only snickered but had nevertheless shared her boyfriend's mirth at the situation. Both of them had told her that she'd reacted in the exact same way they would, as well, which made her feel slightly better. But still, she couldn't help but still feel inadequate, despite everyone's assurances.

And now, the letter.

“Is it from miss Idris?”, she asked, and her mother raised an eyebrow.

“Looks like – it's an elegant handwritin'... an' it's got _her_ address on the back here, see? ...What's she wanna write you for, then?”

“I dunno.”, Rose admitted truthfully – she didn't have a clue as to why her employer would write to her. She had her phone number, if she wanted to say something, she could just as easily call... Then, however, she added with a little more resolve: “...But we'll find out soon enough!” Using her bread knife, which she had fortunately not yet used to spread jam over her bread, she cut open the envelope and saw three small slips of paper fall into her hands along with a fourth, larger piece of paper. Having an inkling of realization, she read the largest of the four notes first, finding that it came from the boys' mother.

“ _Dear Rose,_

_since you were so embarrassed about what'd happened, I got the boys – and Alex, since her parents called me and asked me to bring their little girl to school in their stead as they'd only just arrived back from the party they'd been at – to explain to me in the morning. Turns out Matty and Alex had been wondering whether it was okay for them to 'go kissy-kissy' since they'd 'gotten married'. Fortunately for everyone involved, all they found out is that they're ticklish and that it's the 'being a grown-up' part that makes that okay. I've told them not to try it out anymore for at least ten years and they seemed to listen to that._

_I want to take this opportunity again to thank you, Rose, because you've managed to make quite an impact on my three little angels in one night. Chris has been on his best behaviour all morning, and I've got no doubt that he'll behave a little more responsibly from now on – with the occasional relapse, naturally, because no matter how mature he is, he's still in that awkward territory between childhood and adulthood. David seemed to be less inclined to tease Chris, though he did tease Matty relentlessly about Alex and what'd happened. Matty, finally... well, he still is convinced he and Alex are married, and no one can convince him otherwise – the same applies for Alex – but they don't seem to have their mind set on any other mischief. He keeps asking if it's okay for Alex to come over and play and I have no doubt that that little girl is going to become a very frequent house guest from now on, and is going to stay a very frequent visitor for many years to come. But he and Alex behave admirably well now. Apparently your vehement reaction caused them to see that they shouldn't do things like that just yet._

_Finally, I've asked the boys to write you their own notes – or, at least, Chris and David wrote their own notes. Matty drew you something and then asked Chris to 'put the words there'. I'm sure you'll understand what he means effortlessly._

_We all will see you again soon – I've got another dance class on Tuesday and then, next Saturday, I'd like you to come over to mind the children as I've got to go to a conference. If all goes well, that conference'll lead to a much longer trip in the summer, and then you can come over for a week to mind my house as well as my three little angels._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Mme. T. Idris”_

The children's notes had apparently fallen into her hands with Chris' small note first. His handwriting had the first inklings of that elegance his mother's had, though not written as fluently as hers: occasionally, his pen had stopped, probably because his wrist had cramped trying to emulate her style of writing.

“ _Rose,_

_Mum said she's okay with me biking along with Rose from David's class after this week's book group meeting! She said that, as long as I'm back home before three, she'll let me go over to her on Saturday! ...Also, she said that David already knows I'm 'smitten' with Rose but that you didn't tell him, that he found out on his own. And David said I might really have a shot with her, said she definitely has noticed me! So yeah, I'm great. I hope you're great too. I wanted to say we're all very sorry about teasing you with your boyfriend and all, we shouldn't have done that. Hope you're not angry at us. We really like you minding us when mum's out._

_Love, Christopher Smith.”_

Smiling gently as she put his note on top of his mother's, she felt like the awkwardness of that one evening had been pushed away already, something that was only compounded when she read David's note, written in the angular, somewhat cramped writing of the middle of the three boys.

“ _Hello Rose! I hope you're doing good, I am. Chris said he'll ask my help next time he doesn't understand his maths. Also, he's finally decided to go ahead and talk to Rose, I'm sure she'll be relieved, she's been asking me about him for ages already. I was getting kind of tired talking about my brother to some girl from my class, but she was a little nervous talking to him. I also wanted to tease Matty about the entire thing with Alex but mum said that's not okay and that she'll cut my allowance as well if I even think about it. He's sorry about it, though. Mum doesn't know, but when I woke up, I also woke up Matty and Alex and they were all scrunched up together on Alex' bed on the floor, it was sweet – I did tell mum but she said it's okay, she said I slept in Chris' bed when I was scared too. Don't think they were scared, though. :)_

 _I have to stop now because I've run out of paper seeyounexttimeRose!”_ , the note finished with increasingly tiny and harder-to-read handwriting until he just seemed to have written the final words in one long string along the torn edge at the bottom. Rose chuckled softly before taking the picture that Matty had drawn her, finding an array of figures on the paper – she could make out Tricey because of the brownish colour and the three horns, and she instinctively knew Matty had drawn himself because of the 'cool' bow tie. The figure drawn by his side had to be Alex, mostly because of the hearts that swarmed her and the drawing he'd made of himself. But he'd also drawn her and the blue box that had featured so heavily in their 'adventures' the previous day, his Tardis. Next to the drawing stood elegant writing: _“Rose, you are very cool. We'll have more adventures next time you're here. Lots of love, Matty and Alex and Tricey. PS: my mum says we didn't really get married, that's silly, right?”_

With a soft laugh, Rose placed the drawing on top of the rest of the notes, shaking her head. Her mother peeked her head around the doorway again, looking at her in surprise.

“'s It funny, what she wrote?”, she asked, and Rose smiled, shaking her head.

“She got her boys to write me, too, and they're such little devils when I'm over there, but they're always such little angels afterwards...”

“Oh, Rose, it's always like that – boys, men... all the same! Though those three certainly have more charm 'n Jeff from the shop or Henry from Building Maintenance has...”, she said, indicating the two men that held a soft spot for her, and Rose rolled her eyes.

“Mum, that's 'cause those three aren't after what Jeff or Henry are after...”

“I know that! Still, young or old, men are still li'l boys at heart – all they want is for women to love 'em...”, Jackie said, and Rose nodded to that, silently.

No matter how much more awkward Chris'd become as a teenager, no matter how quickly David would follow in his older brother's footsteps and no matter how much mischief Matt would get up to with and because of Alex, they'd always look at her to see if she still adored them as much as she did. And at the same time, she knew she'd always adore them just as much.

Babysitting those three boys had always been, and would always be, an adventure all on its own.

 


End file.
